Friday, March 10, 2006
Outer Banks Seriously Threatened By Rising Seas
 A North Carolina legislative committee received a troubling forecast from East Carolina University geologist Stanley Riggs about the future of the Outer Banks. Riggs explained more about recent global warming numbers and the specific impact ongoing climate change will have on the Outer Banks and other NC beach communities. Average global temperatures rose just over one degree in the last hundred years and it appears that the average may increase several times that in the next century. With warmer temps you get rising seas and the current forecast calls for an 18 inch increase. One of Riggs' primary concerns was the potential geological damage that comes from the Outer Banks booming real estate development. Every luxury home, vacation rental home, and other new development that goes up destroys part of the natural defense characteristics of the islands. Dunes and vegetation are really all that separate North Carolina's Outer Banks from being only sandbars. Riggs also explained that rising sea levels also make the Outer Banks more exposed to dangers posed by larger hurricanes. While a powerful class 3 or 4 hurricane hasn't hit the Outer Banks head on since the 1950's, Riggs feels that one of that size could wipe away some of the more unstable islands. More on the Outer Banks and rising sea levels from the News and Observer. More details on the Climate Change legislative committee from the North Carolina General Assembly website.
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