Area of Land Vulnerable to Sea Level Rise: New York to North Carolina

The table below provides EPA's estimated uncertainty range of the area of dry land and wetlands below particular elevations, in square kilometers. The uncertainty range considers the varying accuracy of the elevation data that the EPA study used. For example, EPA's estimates that the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds region has 1186 to 1519 square kilometers within one metet above spring high water, a 30% difference. For the northern New Jersey area around Raritan Bay, by contrast, the uncertainty range is 39 to 117 square kilometers--a 300% difference. LIDAR elevation data is was available to the EPA study for North Carolina; but for Raritan Bay and its tributaries, the EPA study had to rely on USGS topographic maps with 10-foot contours.

The majority of land close to sea level is wetland rather than the dry land, so the bottom half of this table shows the area of tidal and nontidal wetlands vulnerable to sea level rise. A printer-friendly file with the area of dry land and wetland vulnerable to sea level rise in the Mid-Atlantic is also available.