Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Experts baffled by high East Coast tides

|
|
 
  
Published: July 25, 2009 at 4:35 PM

RALEIGH, N.C., July 25 (UPI) -- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers say they are trying to learn why high tide along the Eastern United States is deeper than normal.

Mike Szabados, head of a NOAA tide and current program in Silver Spring, Md., said the deeper high tide during the last few weeks has been reported all along the East Coast from Florida to Maine, The Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer said Saturday.

"Right now we're trying to get a better understanding of what's the cause," Szabados said of tide increases of up to 2 feet reported since June.

The sudden rise in the high tide has allowed scientists to reject global warming as a possible cause.

Szabados said the cause could be the North Atlantic oscillation, an atmospheric pressure change in the North Atlantic Ocean between the Icelandic Low and the Azores High atmospheric pressure centers.

The NOAA researcher told the News & Observer that ocean circulation could be impacted by wind velocities and directions that have been altered by such atmospheric pressure changes.

Recommended Stories
© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 21
President Obama Signs Smuggling Prevention Act at White House
View Caption
fark
All fifth graders who want to go see "Red Tails" please step forward. Whoa not so fast there girls...
If we timewarped back by 2000 years, what job would you be most qualified to do? No, you can't bring...
BAD: getting caught in a landslide while hiking. WORSE: getting struck by lightning while trying...
Weepy eyes, hot chix, Jersey Shore Ronnie and a guy with mini fishing reels stuck in his beard....
French roadbuilders find 21 German WWI soldiers...and 1 goat
Photoshop this crazy old coot in the cold