The Moon's "wobbly" orbit could cause a dramatic increase in floods over the next decade, NASA has said.
The way the Moon fluctuates as it orbits around Earth, also know as its "wobble", is over an 18-year cycle and the reason behind the low and high tides on our planet.
The Moon's irregular movement is no news as it was first observed in 1728.
But with the rising sea levels and melting ice caused by global warming, a study from NASA and the University of Hawaii has warned of an exponential rise in high-tide floods in low-lying coastal areas by 2030.
It means the next cycle could be the most dangerous yet, the Daily Star reports.
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“Low-lying areas near sea level are increasingly at risk and suffering due to the increased flooding, and it will only get worse,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
“The combination of the Moon’s gravitational pull, rising sea levels, and climate change will continue to exacerbate coastal flooding on our coastlines and across the world," he added.
"NASA’s Sea Level Change Team is providing crucial information so that we can plan, protect, and prevent damage to the environment and people’s livelihoods affected by flooding.”
We are in the midst of a lunar tidal peak at present, but the effect could be four times more extreme by the middle of the next cycle.
Phil Thompson, an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii, added that while tidal flooding is seen as less of a threat than dramatic storm surges they can have a profound economic impact: “If it floods 10 or 15 times a month, a business can’t keep operating with its parking lot under water.
"People lose their jobs because they can’t get to work. Seeping cesspools become a public health issue.”
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The next peak in the lunar tide cycle will come towards the middle of the 2030s, by which point global sea levels will have risen even further.
“The higher seas, amplified by the lunar cycle, will cause a leap in flood numbers on almost all US mainland coastlines, Hawaii, and Guam,” warns NASA.
Tides, however, are very much a global phenomenon and coast parts of the UK, for example Cornwall, Kent, Sussex and the East Coast are equally at risk.
