A Restaurant Prepares to Face Rising Seas Alongside Woods Hole Scientists | Cape Cod Times
WOODS HOLE — At the Landfall Restaurant on the southwestern edge of Falmouth there aren't many places for water to go when the sea rises. Except in.
Situated in the heart of the sea-faring village of Woods Hole, with its dining room suspended on a pier just a couple of feet above the tides, the Landfall has seen its fair share of salt water over the last 76 years.
Numerous full-on hurricanes — like Carol and Edna in 1954, Donna in 1960, Gloria in 1985, and Bob in 1991 — gusty side swipes and turbulent nor'easters have sent the owners and their staff scrambling to prepare, putting up boards, throwing down sandbags. All to no avail, as the commemorative high waterline plaques affixed to one of the roof-supporting pilings inside the restaurant attest.
In Woods Hole, the sea giveth, and the sea taketh away — a reality the villagers have faced for more than 300 years, but one that is getting increasingly more problematic with climate change bringing not only more frequent and stronger storms, but also the prospect of progressively rising daily tides over the next 50 years.
Since the life of Woods Hole is so intrinsically tied to the sea, with six scientific entities — including among them the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service, and the Marine Biological Laboratory — conducting important climate change, coastal resiliency, and marine research and conservation work there, and ferries carrying goods and people to the islands off Cape Cod, full retreat is not an option. Read rest of the article here.