Some native plants and creatures could die out and other species could invade. Salt water intrusion could jeopardize fresh-water wells. A rising water table could flood places that now seem high and dry. Waterfront property, now the most desirable, could become a liability as the waterline steadily creeps inland and streets turn into canals. Maybe none of these events will happen.
Some experts dispute such doomsday prognostications as being wildly overblown.
Prior predictions of rapidly rising sea levels, they say, have already failed to materialize. But a growing body of scientists contends that global warming and higher sea levels are real trends, even if the experts are uncertain of the exact extent, timing and impact. You don't have to be panicked, but that doesn't mean you should ignore it, either,'' said Jay J. Tanski, a coastal geologist in the New York Sea Grant program at the State University at Stony Brook. One nasty season like the marathon heat wave of this past summer does not impress scientists. But the undeniable fact that the 10 warmest years on record were all in the 1980's and 1990's is hard to dismiss, say officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.