Coastal Labs Studying Increased Flooding Consider Moving Because Of Increased Flooding

Scores of coastal research labs around the U.S. are helping communities plan for sea level rise. But now many are starting to flood themselves, creating a dilemma: stay by the coast and endure expensive flooding, or move inland, to higher ground, but away from their subject of study.

The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium lab is located along the state’s fragile coast, about 80 miles southwest of New Orleans. The giant X-shaped building is at the end of a gravel road, surrounded by open water and grassy marshes.

During a recent open house, cars packed the parking lot. Families and children streamed through the place, checking out aquariums with local fish and turtles, taking rides on the research vessels, and talking to researchers like coastal professor Alex Kolker. He showed them models of the Mississippi River and sediment cores to explain how fast the coast is disappearing.