Global Warming
Waves are pounding the Pacific Coast like never before, which is not news to coastal residents who are seeing increasing erosion and higher surf surges. New analysis of offshore buoy records indicates the highest waves advancing toward Oregon and Washington on the Pacific in winter months now reach 46 feet (14 meters), much higher than the 33 foot (10 m) estimates that were made as recently as 1996. In a study published last month and another in 2008, Peter Ruggiero and colleagues from Oregon State University and the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries report that the cause of these dramatically higher waves is not completely certain, but “likely due to Earth’s changing climate.” The scientists also cite a “progressive rise in global sea level” in the increase in the damage caused by waves, but say the rapidly increasing wave height “will have a more significant impact on coastal erosion and flood probabilities than even relatively extreme sea level rise scenarios.”
