... and fall: VIMS prof studying 'middle ground' sea-level change
While sea-level rise has become an everyday topic of conversation, research by professor John Brubaker of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science is throwing light on another, less-familiar component of sea-level variability. He studies “intra-seasonal” changes between rapid, storm-related surges and the long-term increases due to global climate change.
"These are cases when the water is just 'running high,'" Brubaker said in a release, "but not from an obvious direct cause of a storm. It isn’t necessarily windy, it’s just an elevated water level without a clear cause."
Intra-seasonal variability, which Brubaker says takes place over 10-90 days and can add or detract a foot or more from the predicted tide, is likely due to shifts in oceanic currents and large-scale movements of water masses along the coast.

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