Sea level rise is swallowing US Mid-Atlantic farmland faster than expected, study finds

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https://phys.org/news/2026-05-sea-swallowing-mid-atlantic-farmland.html

Ghost forests, the cemetery-like groupings of dead trees killed by saltwater intrusion, have become haunting symbols of sea level rise overtaking land along the Mid-Atlantic coast. But a new study published in Nature Sustainability, led by William & Mary's Batten School & VIMS, points to even more dramatic land losses in the region's coastal farmlands, where the rate of marsh encroachment is happening nearly twice as fast.

Using satellite data spanning decades as well as recent field measurements, the study's authors found that between 1984 and 2022 approximately 25,000 acres of farmland was lost to sea level rise in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay watersheds, despite preventative measures taken by local farmers.
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The Mid-Atlantic coast experiences sea level rise at roughly double the global average, making it both a hotspot for these changes and an ideal location to study them.

The study shows that marsh encroachment can be up to seven times more frequent on agricultural land compared to forestland in the Mid-Atlantic and that regionally, agricultural land appears to have accelerated the impacts of saltwater intrusion.
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