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.
