Online Video Explains Rapid Sea Level Rise

Maryland Sea Grant

Maryland Sea Grant produced a nine-minute online video documentary that describes  scientific research about the causes of rising seas in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Climate change and its associated sea level rise creates a number of challenges for coastal communities in Maryland, including worsening storm surges, increasing shoreline erosion, and growing frequency of nuisance flooding. In 2013 Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley assembled a working group of scientists from several states to revise sea level rise projections for the Mid-Atlantic region based on the latest scientific research. That same year, the working group released a report titled “Updating Maryland’s Sea-Level Rise Projections,” which estimated that local sea levels would rise by approximately two feet by 2050.

To share the results of this report with a wider audience, Maryland Sea Grant created the documentary “Forecasting Sea Level Rise for Maryland,” released online in 2013. The video shows the deliberations of the working group and incorporates interviews with its members, including university scientists and a Maryland state government official. Among other topics, the documentary explores why sea levels off the coast of Maryland are rising at a rate faster than the global average.

The video, which presents scientific concepts in terms understandable to non-scientists,  has been viewed more than 11,000 times on Maryland Sea Grant’s YouTube channel, making it one of Maryland Sea Grant’s most popular videos. It was re-posted on the websites of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and NOAA's Climate.gov. The video was also featured at local film presentations in Maryland.