"King Tide" Along the Delaware River a Forecast of Tides to Come?

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

October 24, 2011 | 4:41 PM

Mary Cummings Jordan / WHYY

View of the Delaware River from Bucks County, Pa.

The Delaware River is tidal up to Trenton, rising and falling twice a day. But at the end of this week, those tides may rise a foot higher than normal. A “King Tide” occurs when the earth reaches its closest annual point to the sun, while at the same time, the moon reaches its closest monthly point to the earth. With all these earthly bodies cozying up to one another, the oceans respond with unusually high, and low, tides.
This year, environmentalists are using the event to draw attention to global warming. Dr. Danielle Kreeger, science director for the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, says in a press release that this week’s tides provide a glimpse into the future.
“Today’s King Tides will be tomorrow’s daily tides,” said Kreeger. “Most experts believe that sea levels in the Delaware Estuary will rise by three to five feet this century.”
Kreeger says within 20 years, tides could be a foot higher.
The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary wants everyone to get out their cameras and take snapshots of the tide, while wearing a “King Tide Crown.”