The onset of global warming is reshaping the face of the land from mountains heights, through river basins and along the coasts of our country, affecting forests, wetlands, prairies and agriculture. Precipitation patterns are changing. Storm events are becoming more extreme, generating more frequent and intense flooding along river channels. However, the most extensive changes in the land wrought by climate change are now occurring along our coastlines. Sea levels are rising more or less uniformly across the planet, driven by thermal expansion of ocean water and increased volumes of water reaching the oceans from melting ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica, as well as terrestrial glaciers. Along our coasts these rising sea levels are steadily encroaching upon lowland regions, and inevitably coastal flooding will require major adjustments in land-use patterns.
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