Administration (NOAA) , National Ocean Service (NOS) . These publications de- 

 scribe the sea- level trends, standard error of sea- level rates, and annual 

 variabilities for the entire US coastline (Hicks, Debaugh, and Hickman 1983; 

 and Lyles, Hickman, and Debaugh 1988). Sea-level trends based on observations 

 of NOS tide stations are listed in Table 1 (Hicks, Debaugh, and Hickman 1983). 



11. National concerns and impacts of sea- level rise are summarized in 

 Titus, Henderson, and Teal (1984), and Barth and Titus (1984). By understand- 

 ing the cause and effect of sea- level rise and implementing strong planning 

 policies, the private and public sectors can avert costly storm damages. Two 

 case studies, as presented in Barth and Titus (1984), evaluate the cumulative 

 economic impact for the Charleston, NC, and Galveston, TX, area. Economic 

 losses for the Charleston area is projected from $280 million in the low sce- 

 nario (1980-2075) to $2.5 billion for the high scenario (1980-2075). For the 

 Galveston area, the losses would range from $415 million for the low scenario 

 (1980-2025) to $1.8 billion in the high scenario (1980-2075). The economic 

 impacts such as these case studies might be greatly reduced if coastal plan- 

 ners and engineers take the necessary action and precautions . 



East US Coast 



12. Rates of sea-level rise in the northeast United States range from 

 1.8 to 4.2 millimeters/year (Hicks, Debaugh, and Hickman 1983). The higher 

 rates reflect regional downwarping of the land due to glacial loading, high 

 frequency of storm activity, and wind setup associated with the bent coastline 

 near New York Harbor. An area that has undergone rapid subsidence as a result 

 of glacial rebound is the Continental Shelf south of New England. For the 

 southeast Atlantic coast, the overall mean sea- level value of 1 . 9 millimeter/ 

 year was considerably less than the values for the northeast coastline due to 

 the tectonic stability of the region. 



West US Coast 



13. As previously mentioned, the Pacific coast is an active area of 

 crustal movement where the land is uplifted relative to sea level. Records of 

 annual mean sea level along the California coastline show alternate reces- 

 sional and tectonically uplifted coastlines. For example, Los Angeles is 



