Chapter 5 Threats
https://www.deq.nc.gov/energy-climate/climate-change/nc-climate-change-interagency- council/climate-change-clean-energy-plans-progress. Plans include NCDEQ’s Climate Risk Assessment & Resilience Plan (NCDEQ 2020) , Climate Strategy Reports (NCDEQ 2022) , and the NC Priority Climate Action Plan (NCDEQ 2024) . The North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies (NCICS) completed the North Carolina Climate Science Report in 2020. This report provides a scientific assessment of historical climate trends and potential future climate change in North Carolina. This report indicates that North Carolina is very likely to continue to experience warmer temperatures, extreme precipitation events, and more inland flooding. It is likely that North Carolina will experience drought and decreased snowfall and cold temperatures. Sea level rise (SLR) is ‘virtually certain.’ The following sections provide additional information about three climate change topics expected to impact wildlife and habitats in North Carolina: Sea Level Rise (SLR), temperature changes, and precipitation changes. 5.12.2 Sea Level Rise - Anticipated Impacts In simple terms, sea level is the average height of the ocean surface, and it is typically measured along a coastline in relation to fixed land positions. Sea level is influenced by several factors, such as ice melt from glaciers and ice masses, and thermal expansion of sea water, which are caused by increased air and water temperatures. Given these influences, sea level naturally fluctuates to some degree on a daily basis because water inputs, ambient temperatures, evaporation, and lunar cycles will vary not only between locations but also on a global scale (NCDCM 2012) .
Tide gauge stations located along the coast are used to measure local changes in water elevations and are able to measure changes in land mass that occur from subsidence, shifts, and tectonic plate movements. These types of ocean and land elevation measurements have been collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) over time in several locations along North Carolina’s coast (Figure 5.12-1).
The resulting data are used to derive relative sea level elevations along North Carolina’s coast. References are provided at the end of this chapter for additional information on SLR and datasets that are publicly available from federal and state agencies and research organizations (NOAA 2013) . Figure 5.12-1. NOAA National Ocean Service Tides & Currents Stations (North Carolina). Source: http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/products.html
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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