![]() Vincent Drayton, general manager of Elijah's Restaurant in Wilmington, says they had to raise the air conditioning units for the waterfront restaurant. But Corbett and other scientists agree that the rate will likely increase in the decades to come. In Southport, on the southern end of the state’s coastline, the rate is about 2 millimeters of sea-level rise per year. In northeast North Carolina, the sea is rising at a rate of about 4.5 millimeters each year. But we’re also seeing changes right at these marshes, these critical wetlands,” Corbett said. “That 300 miles of oceanfront shoreline is critical, that’s where we're seeing that front line, where we’re seeing a lot of changes on the coast. North Carolina has 300 miles of ocean shoreline and another 1,200 miles of coastline along bays and inside the barrier islands. "Today, the main driver of sea-level rise is a global phenomenon with warming temperatures, warming ocean, more water making it into the ocean associated with melting glaciers. “Things are different today than they were 10, 15 years ago,” said Reide Corbett, director of East Carolina University’s Coastal Studies Institute on Roanoke Island. Ghost forests are growing as salt water penetrated further into the mainland and kills trees.By the end of the century, some areas could see high-tide flooding every week or more.Projections say the ocean could rise anywhere from one foot to eight feet, depending on how the world cuts back on carbon emissions to slow climate change.Sea level is rising on the North Carolina coast, bringing with it beach erosion, higher tides and pushing salt water into areas with fresh groundwater.
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