The following project has been approved with the project # C-28: Catch the King Tide.

The aim of this project is to gather an army of citizen-scientist data gatherers on Nov. 5. We'll ask them to go out into their neighborhoods or to places where they work or recreate and document just how far the tide reaches. They'd use smartphones to record GPS coordinates as they trace the tide. The data would then be uploaded to the SeaLevelRise app that they'd have downloaded on their phones. The information would be accessible for everyone to see.

The Virginian-Pilot, WHRO Public Media, the Daily Press and WVEC-TV are sponsoring “Catch the King,” an event that day aimed at measuring the tide. They’re supported by the nonprofit group Wetlands Watch and Concursive Corp., creators and developers of the citizen-science SeaLevelRise app, and the Commonwealth Center for Recurrent Flooding Resilience. The Center is a partnership between Old Dominion University, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and the Virginia Coastal Policy Center at the William & Mary Law School and serves as “one-stop shop” for scientific, socio-economic, legal, and policy analyses aimed at building the state’s resilience against flooding.

The data will be available in the public domain and used by scientists for building predictive models associated with sea level rise and storm events. King tides are increasingly viewed as harbingers of things to come as sea levels rise. That's because today's king tides likely will be common 100 years from now, when everyday sea levels are expected to be higher. Scientists have predicted anywhere from 2 to 12 feet more of water by that time, though few have forecast an increase of more than 8 feet. It's happening in our own backyards!

Time will vary depending on location.

For more information, visit www.pilotonline.com/kingtide and https://tinyurl.com/catchtheking and http://vims-wm.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=8491ac6bd08b42d686b4b55c7541d906#map