Scientists Say Moon “Wobble” Will Cause More Flooding

A recent scientific study found that changes that are expected in the coming years to the moon’s orbit would result in more frequent flooding incidents of coastal areas in the US.

The study was conducted by experts from NASA Sea Level Change Team at the University of Hawaii focused on a change in the orbit of the moon that takes place regularly.

The moon and its role in flooding

The findings of the research were published recently in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change and forecast raised ocean levels across the coastal regions of the United States in the coming decade.

The NASA researchers told Voice of America that slight alteration, also known as ”wobble” in the moon’s orbit is part of an 18.6-year cycle, recorded as far back as 1728.

”During half of the cycle, the moon creates lower high tides and higher low tides; the other half creates higher high tides and even lower low tides,” the scientists were reported as saying.

This new moon position is expected to reach its peak in the mid-2030s, and coincides with already higher sea levels, which are a result of decades of climate change.

This mixture of unfortunate circumstances could have devastating results to coastal communities, which already suffer from regular incidents of flooding.

European floods: One of Europe’s worst natural disasters

More than 150 have now been declared dead in the floods that have ravaged Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium over the past several days.

All of Western Europe was inundated with floodwaters, with rescue crews combing devastated areas in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Deluges of rains have made rivers burst their banks and wash away roads, cover entire villages and sweep away vehicles in these three countries.

Germany’s most populous area, North-Rhine Westphalia, was hit particularly hard while the Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland regions are also suffering under the record flooding.

Meanwhile, the weather front that caused these latest European floods, is moving slowly towards the southeast of Europe.

According to meteorologists of the National Observatory of Athens, this atmospheric disturbance will bring heavy rain and storms in the eastern Alps in Austria, as well as in the western parts of the Balkan Peninsula. The areas that are expected to be affected the most are Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

Italy is also expected to be hit hard by heavy rainfall on Sunday too.

The forecast also shows that from the beginning of next week, the weather pattern in Greece will change. The sunshine and high temperatures that have been prevailing for days will give way to unstable weather, with widespread storms across the country, both in the mainland and on the islands.