The day after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made national headlines for his controversial comments regarding the role climate change played in fueling superstorm Sandy, ESSIC Director and ConE Chair Antonio Busalacchi was quoted by the Jersey Publication “The Record,” in an article regarding climate change and the rebuilding of the Jersey Shore.
The article addresses concerns regarding rising sea levels and known climate data points leading up to Sandy, such as the state’s 21 consecutive months of above-average air and surface water temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean off the Jersey coast.
“What we saw with Sandy is clearly consistent with what the scientific community has been warning for a decade or more,” said Busalacchi.
Busalacchi furthered that scientists have been working to forecast sea level rise on a regional basis, but haven’t as yet come to any definitive conclusions.
Still, a state like New Jersey, which sustained $37 billion in damage from Sandy, would do well to prepare for more frequent “extreme events,” Busalacchi said.
