State of the Climate Report: Temperature, Sea Level Continue to Rise in NJ

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Rutgers-led report details 2022 climate trends for state and local leaders. New Jersey’s summer of 2022, with the warmest August on record and the lowest rainfall levels seen in more than 50 years, offers a glimpse into how climate change may affect future summers in the Garden State, according to a new report being released by researchers from Rutgers and …

Rising Waters on Our Coasts and What It Means for Public Access?

Flooding along Great Bay Blvd in Tuckerton, NJ in March of 2023. Photo: Matt Drews

New Jersey law ensures the public’s right to access coastal shorelines and waters. To help people know where to access tidal waterways and get information about the amenities at each location, the state has an online map that shows over 3,900 public access points. However, the impacts of climate change are likely to affect public access to New Jersey’s coast. Many locations …

A Different Way to Think About Flooding

Brooke Maslo

A map of flood zones in New Jersey shows a state covered in blue, revealing that many residents live in areas susceptible to flooding. “You feel quite vulnerable looking at that map,” says Rutgers ecologist Brooke Maslo, “For sure.” The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection uses federal dollars to buy out the homeowners of some of those flood-prone properties. …

RU COOL Marks 30th Anniversary at the Forefront of Climate Change Research and Ocean Discovery

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Rick Spinrad; President Jonathan Holloway; Distinguished Professor Scott Glenn, co-director of Rutgers Center for Ocean Observing Leadership; and Craig McLean (RC ’79), former assistant administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research at NOAA (left to right), toured the ocean glider maintenance room during a celebration marking the university’s excellence in ocean research and education over the last 30 years. Photo credit: Nick Romanenko.

Rutgers, NOAA, and glider maker mark RUCOOL milestone. For 30 years, Rutgers’ Center for Ocean Observing Leadership (RUCOOL) has taken the lead in pioneering research that has changed our understanding of the oceans and the way information is collected. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Rick Spinrad joined Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway and marine and coastal science researchers and …

On 10th Anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, New Jerseyans Believe in Climate Change, See It as a Threat, and Are Concerned About Its Effects

Point Pleasant New Jersey on Sunday October 28th, 2012. One day before Hurricane Sandy made landfall. Photo is 32 hours prior to the superstorm making landfall on the evening of October 29th. Photo: Shutterstock

Support for Various Climate-Related Policies, but Not How to Pay for It As the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy approaches and more than a year out from Hurricane Ida, the vast majority of New Jerseyan believe the Earth’s climate is changing, see it as a serious threat to the state and are concerned about the effects of changing climate conditions …

Data-Visualization and Mapping Tools Help New Jersey Communities Plan for Climate Change

In many places in New Jersey (Such as little Egg Harbor, pictured), coastal communities directly back up to estuaries and shoreline, often with little protection from coastal storms. NJADAPT's plan is to help coastal communities predict and prepare for future storms and climate change related conditions. Photo: Matt Drews

The expanded suite of apps will assist decision-makers to predict and prepare for future events and conditions. New Jersey residents and planners alike have a new set of decision-support tools to help prepare their communities for climate change, thanks to a suite of data-visualization and mapping tools developed at Rutgers University’s New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center. The tools are part …

Living at the Shore After Sandy: Should Residents Stay – or Go?

Kenneth Miller stands in front of a rebuilt home in Waretown, New Jersey, off Barnegat Bay. Shelley Kusnetz

New Jersey needs to plan for at least a 3-foot sea level rise by 2100, Rutgers researchers warn. Whether to buy or build a home at the Jersey Shore has become more complicated and personal for Kenneth Miller – a Rutgers expert in sea level change and global warming – since Superstorm Sandy struck New Jersey’s seaside communities a decade …

Rutgers Sandy Operation Helps Forecasters Predict Severe Storms, Saving Livelihood Worldwide

Travis Miles inspects a Rutgers ocean glider at the Marine Field Station on the Mullica Hill Estuary. Photo: Shelley Kusnetz

Researchers continue to advance hurricane science, leading to increased forecast accuracy and lead times. As Superstorm Sandy approached the New Jersey coastline, a single Rutgers glider deployed off Tuckerton by hurricane scientists at Rutgers University Center for Ocean Observing Leadership (RUCOOL), provided an ominous warning. The water mass known as the “Mid-Atlantic cold pool”– an area of cool water off the coast that traditionally …

How Rutgers Is Forging the Next Generation of Climate Change Problem Solvers

Larry Niles, an independent wildlife biologist, describes the ecosystem of the Cumberland County shore to Rutgers students, with the Delaware River behind him. The students are banding migratory shorebirds. Photo: Lisa Auermuller

Training program created in wake of Superstorm Sandy brings graduate students from varied disciplines together to solve real-world climate problems. As a child, Dan Blanco watched low-income neighborhoods in his native Chicago flood during storms while the more affluent enclaves did not. Now, he is pursuing a doctoral degree in atmospheric sciences at Rutgers so he can further explore – …

Living Shoreline Combats Coastal Erosion Caused by Sea Level Rise

Rutgers scientists teamed up with high school students to build a living shoreline, near the New Jersey Aquaculture Innovation Center in Cape May, that helps reduce wave energy as it comes onto the beach. Photo: Dena Seidel

Rutgers scientists and high school volunteers from Camden are using nature to mitigate the effects of coastal erosion in southern New Jersey. Together they built a living shoreline, near the New Jersey Aquaculture Innovation Center in Cape May, that uses marsh grasses and recycled oyster and clam shells. The shells, incorporated into modified concrete blocks called oyster castles, fit together like Legos to …