Rhode Island Sea Grant

This week: Extreme high tides—A preview of sea level rise

Get your cameras out! Some of the highest tides of the year are occurring this week and we would love your help capturing images of what could be a glimpse into the future, so grab your camera and get down to the water!

From Wickford to Block Island, people are witnessing increasingly high tides, which now frequently extend above the shoreline into parking lots and backyards.

These unusually high tides provide Rhode Islanders with a sneak preview of what we can expect in the future due to sea level rise. What is considered an extreme high tide today may become the daily high tide within a few decades as sea levels continue to rise.

This extreme high tide will be most pronounced at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 26; 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 27; and 9:20 a.m. on Friday, October 28 at the Newport Tide Gauge. The exact timing of the extreme high tide will vary depending on where you are on the coast (see http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/gmap3/).

When taking your pictures please remember to record your location (street and town), time and date, description of what you are seeing—such as the length of road flooded, percentage of parking lot inundated, and any other details, including if you see fish in your backyard—and contact information so we can give you credit for the picture. If you already have a Flickr account, you can upload your photographs to the Flickr group "Rhode Island High Tide Photos" at http://www.flickr.com/groups/rihightide/. If you do not have a Flickr account, please send pictures by e-mail to action51week@photos.flickr.com.  

The Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode Island/Rhode Island Sea Grant has been working in cooperation with the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council, Save the Bay, and other organizations on issues related to sea level rise and its impact on communities, as well as identifying ways to minimize its effects. These photos will aid our work in coastal communities, such as North Kingstown, where we are evaluating impacts on property, infrastructure, and wetlands. Pictures will provide important information for local and state planners and help validate concerns regarding increasing high tides today and sea level rise in the future. For more information, please visit http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/coast/sealevelrise.html.