North Carolina experiences accelerating sea-level rise.

New studies have shown that sea-level rise along the North Carolina coast is happening faster than in most other parts of the United States, and faster than what most scientists had expected. The sea-level rise is a natural phenomenon, but it is being exacerbated by human actions, notably the pumping of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The recent accelerated sea-level rise rates were a result of manmade climate change influences and a peak in weather-related variability. The rising seas should return to more normal levels as the weather variability moderates in the coming decades, as most climate models forecast.