Is The Ice Age Causing Maryland To Sink?
WASHINGTON (WJZ)—It may have happened 22,000 years ago, but the last ice age isn't done with Maryland yet.
Alex DeMetrick reports, it's causing the ground we're standing on to sink.
Along the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers, there's not much height separating land from water and according to research by the University of Vermont, there's going to be even less.
You can blame it on the last ice age and the vast weight of an ice sheet that stretched down the East Coast, stopping above Maryland.
"Where we are, Baltimore and Washington, we're below where the ice cap was, that land pushed up, almost like pushing on a balloon. So as the ice cap retreats, the land slowly sinks down again," said Jim O'Leary, Maryland Science Center.
While sea level continues to rise in a warming world, increased flooding is already occurring around the Chesapeake Bay.
"Flooding form high tides, it used to be not even an issue, and now these tides are coming in flooding further inland," said Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel, Union of Concerned Scientists.
The study indicates it will get worse as land here sinks six to eight inches this century. And what took an extraordinary storm in the past to flood, could be permanently lost.
Maps projecting Maryland's loss may have to be updated to project the effects of the new sinking estimates.
As for dealing with it, Annapolis Mayor Mike Panteliedes says, "Even if we had all the money today, coming up with a plan to build the infrastructure, creating it, will take more than a couple of years."
"You get more sea level rise along the Chesapeake Bay than almost anywhere along the East Coast of the United States and some say anywhere in North America," O'Leary said.
It's not just Maryland. Researches say Washington, D.C., is sinking at the same rate and will becoming increasingly vulnerable to sea level rise.