Moon ‘wobble’ to bring a surge of severe flooding in 2030s, NASA warns
A moon “wobble” will contribute to an increase in severe flooding in the mid-2030s, NASA has warned.
The moon’s orbit, which affects the Earth’s tides, has a natural “wobble” every 18.6 years that causes extremely high and low tides.
In a new study, published by Nature Climate Change, NASA’s Sea Level Change Science Team calculated that the next wobble in the mid-2030s will amplify rising sea levels caused by climate change.
People walk on a local street as water from Neuse River starts flooding houses in New Bern, North Carolina
Almost all of US mainland coastlines, as well as Hawaii and Guam, are likely to see high-tide flood numbers surge as they come under pressure from the higher seas.
But northern coastlines, including Alaska’s, will be spared for another decade or longer because these land areas are rising due to long-term geological processes, researchers found.
The study is the first to take into account all known oceanic and astronomical causes for floods, NASA said.
High-tide floods, also known as nuisance floods or sunny day floods, occur not because of storm surges from extreme weather or excessive precipitation, but instead when the tide rises into populated areas.
The floods can overwhelm storm drains, close roads and compromise infrastructure over time, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
NASA administrator Bill Nelson said: “Low-lying areas near sea level are increasingly at risk and suffering due to the increased flooding, and it will only get worse.
“The combination of the moon’s gravitational pull, rising sea levels, and climate change will continue to exacerbate coastal flooding on our coastlines and across the world.”
“It’s the accumulated effect over time that will have an impact,” added Phil Thompson, an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii and the lead author of the new study.
The lunar wobble will amplify rising sea levels
High tide floods are less dramatic and involve less water than hurricane storm surges, so they are often seen as a less pressing problem.
“But if it floods 10 or 15 times a month, a business can’t keep operating with its parking lot underwater,” Mr Thompson said.
“People lose their jobs because they can’t get to work. Seeping cesspools become a public health issue.”
The floods will also occur in clusters, which could last a month or longer at a time depending on the position of the moon, sun, and Earth, NASA said.
As the moon and Earth line up with each other and the sun in specific ways, some city dwellers could see flooding every day or two.
Ben Hamlington, who leads NASA’s Sea Level Change Team, said the study is vital for coastal urban planners, who may tend to focus on preparing for extreme weather events over chronic flooding.
“From a planning perspective, it’s important to know when we’ll see an increase,” Mr Hamlington said.
Homes are flooded after Hurricane Sandy made landfall on the southern New Jersey coastline
“Understanding that all your events are clustered in a particular month, or you might have more severe flooding in the second half of a year than the first – that’s useful information.”
The moon is currently in the tide-amplifying part of its 18.6-year wobble, but most US coastlines are yet to see enough sea-level rise to notice the flooding effects.
By the mid-2030s, the next time the wobble enters its tide-amplifying phase, global sea levels will have had another decade to rise due to climate change.
The study projected results out to 2080 by mapping “NOAA’s widely used sea level rise scenarios and flooding thresholds, the number of times those thresholds have been exceeded annually, astronomical cycles, and statistical representations of other processes, such as El Niño events, that are known to affect tides.”
US
AB Hernandez: 16-year-old transgender athlete wins two golds and a silver as participation sparks controversy
A 16-year-old transgender athlete who is the focus of a US sports row has won two golds and a silver at the California high school track and field championship.
AB Hernandez was born a boy but has transitioned and now competes against girls.
And the teenager’s inclusion in the girls category in the high jump, long jump and triple jump became a national conversation.
Critics, including parents, conservative activists and President Trump, had called for Hernandez to be barred from competing.
AB Hernandez poses with her medals. Pic: AP
In the city of Clovis on Saturday, she took part under a new rule change brought in by the state’s interscholastic federation, under which an extra student was allowed to compete and win a medal in the events where Hernandez qualified.
And it meant there were two winners when she finished first.
Hernandez shared first place in the high jump with Jillene Wetteland and Lelani Laruelle.
All three cleared a height of 5ft 7in (1.7m), but Hernandez had no failed attempts, while the other two had each logged one failure.
Hernandez also had a first-place finish in the triple jump, sharing the top spot with Kira Gant Hatcher, who trailed her by more than half a metre.
AB Hernandez shares the first-place spot on the podium with Kira Gant Hatcher during the triple jump medal ceremony. Pic: AP
Also, Hernandez came second in the long jump with Brooke White.
“Sharing the podium was nothing but an honour,” White said. “As a part of the queer community I want AB Hernandez to know we all have her back.”
Plane protest
During Hernandez’s qualifying events on Friday, a plane flew over the stadium trailing a banner, which read: “No boys in girls’ sports.” It was organised and paid for by two women’s advocacy groups.
A small protest also took place on the road outside. “Save girls’ sports,” one poster read. “XX does not equal XY,” read another.
A plane, paid for by women’s advocacy groups, flew a banner over the stadium that read: ‘No boys in girls’ sports’
Transgender inclusion is a thorny issue but a vote winner for Donald Trump, who campaigned last year with a promise to “kick out men from women’s sport”.
He signed an executive order seeking to ban transgender women from female sports.
And Mr Trump has threatened to withdraw federal funding from California over Hernandez’s participation in this weekend’s athletics event.
Pic: AP
‘Pilot entry process’
The California Interscholastic Federation had earlier said it was launching a “pilot entry process” to allow more girls to participate in the championship.
It only applied to the three events in which Hernandez competed.
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The rule change may be the first attempt nationally by a high school sports governing body to expand competition when trans athletes are participating.
If a transgender athlete wins a medal, their ranking would not displace a “biological female” student from also medalling, the federation confirmed, and it will be reflected in the records.
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The federation said the rule opens the field to more “biological female” athletes.
The organisation did not specify how it defines “biological female” or how it would verify whether a competitor meets that definition.
Donald Trump said he plans to double tariffs on steel imports from next week, deepening his trade war which has hit global markets.
The US president told a rally of steel workers in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, on Friday that tariffs would be raised from 25% to 50%, “which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States”.
Mr Trump later said on Truth Social that the new levy – also affecting aluminium imports – would be in effect from Wednesday and that American “industries are coming back like never before”.
“This will be yet another BIG jolt of great news for our wonderful steel and aluminum (sic) workers,” he added. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
He then said: “We don’t want America’s future to be built with shoddy steel from Shanghai – we want it built with the strength and the pride of Pittsburgh!”
The new levy will come into effect on Wednesday, the US president says. Pic: Reuters
Sky News understands that British steel exports are exempt from this rise after a UK-US trade agreement was signed earlier this month.
The agreement said at the time that the US “will promptly construct a quota at most favoured nation (MFN) rates” for British steel, aluminium and derivative products.
Read more: Key details in the UK-US ‘historic’ trade deal
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How good is the UK-US deal?
Earlier, the US president claimed China had “totally violated” an agreement to mutually roll back tariffs and trade restrictions for critical minerals.
“So much for being Mr Nice Guy,” he said in a post on his social media platform.
In March, Mr Trump introduced a 25% tariff on all foreign steel and aluminium imports as a way to protect US manufacturing and bolster jobs by making foreign-made products less attractive.
The rates threaten to make the cost of products using steel and aluminium – such as cars or soft drink cans – more expensive for Americans.
He also previously threatened Canada with 50% levies on imports, while the provincial government of Ontario, in turn, threatened to charge 25% more for the electricity it supplies to the US.
Canada’s most populous province provides electricity to more than 1.5 million American homes and businesses in Minnesota, New York and Michigan.
At the time, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called the proposed 50% tariffs an “attack” on Canadian workers, families and businesses.
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Roughly a quarter of all steel used in the US is imported, with a majority coming from Mexico, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Germany.
In 2024, 6.6m tonnes of steel were imported by the US from Canada, while 3.5m tonnes were brought in from Mexico.
The US is also reliant on imports for aluminium, with 3.2m tonnes coming from Canada last year.
It was billed by the president as a press conference..
But that was accurate only to the extent that there were a few select reporters asking questions in the Oval Office.
They were part of the ‘pool’, a chosen group of journalists on a rota to cover the president’s movements each day.
The rota used to be drawn up by the White House Correspondents Association on a rotating basis.
The Trump administration has changed that. They now compile the pool.
And today, as it happens, the media seemed particularly compliant.
The questions were soft. Painfully so.
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Pic: Reuters
There was one on whether the president had any marital advice for his French counterpart – who appeared to be shoved by his wife the other day.
Another was about whether Mr Musk thought it was harder to colonise to Mars or reform government.
There were one or two about the pressing issues of the day, like Gaza, but nothing that could be described as probing or doing what we are supposed to be there to do – hold power to account.
And Musk, under Trump, has without question wielded immense power over the past few months; unprecedented for an unelected official.
He upended the workings of federal government, slashing thousands of jobs. He forced the closure of whole departments like USAID, changing America’s global footprint.
He did it all with a sense of enjoyment. The literal chainsaw to bureaucracy was memorable.
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From February: Elon Musk shows off ‘chainsaw for bureaucracy’
There is little debate in America about the need to cut government bureaucracy or cut the debt.
America, more than any country I have lived in, is a place full of bloat and waste. Yet it was Mr Musk’s methods which caused so much unease among his many critics.
They argued that where a scalpel was definitely needed, Musk instead deployed a sledgehammer.
At times, his flamboyant style was a neat distraction from the substance of Trump’s sweeping policy changes.
But none of that was interrogated in this ‘press conference’.
Instead, the inane questions went on.
Pic: Reuters
Trump was asked if he would pardon Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs should he be convicted – he didn’t say ‘no’, but there was no follow up to examine why.
He was asked if he wished he’d become a judge given that they are blocking so much of his legislation. He laughed.
There was a moment when irony appeared to have died altogether.
In the same breath as trumpeting his success in cutting government waste – when he has, in fact, achieved a fraction of the $2 trillion savings he promised – Musk congratulated Trump for deploying so much gold around the Oval Office.
The presidential office has had an extensive, gaudy gold makeover costing undisclosed sums.
Pic: Reuters
One reporter did ask about Musk’s alleged drug use. But by attributing the story to the New York Times – who have made the allegations – Musk had an easy out.
“Why believe that fake news,” he essentially said.
Surely the obvious question was “Mr Musk, when was the last time you took ketamine or ecstasy?”
It never came.
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We did get the answer to one burning question, trivial though it was, given what’s going on in the world.
But it took 41 minutes for any of the reporters to ask it: Why was Elon Musk sporting a shiner on his right eye?
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Elon Musk asked about his black eye
His 4-year-old son, X, whacked him, he said.
Maybe young X has some sympathy for the thousands of federal workers – ordinary Americans – who Musk fired at his president’s pleasure.
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