ABSTRACT
New York City, the financial, cultural and communications capital of the US, is at risk from many aspects of climate change, including rising sea level, storm surge, rising temperatures, heat waves, inland flooding and more frequent droughts in upland watersheds. Leadership by New York City in dealing with climate change has been, and will be, an important element in the regional success of coping with such impacts. Relative (local) sea-level rise in the New York area is greater than worldwide sea-level rise primarily due to on-going glacial isostatic readjustments (Peltier, 2004; Horton and Rosenzweig, 2010). New York City has enormous assets and a large population at risk from sea-level rise and storm surge. However, only some parts of the city are located at or close to sea level; elevations in other areas of the city are significantly higher, ran ging up to 409.8 feet (124.9m) at Todt Hill on Staten Island.
