The East Coast of the United States is home to many of its major population centers. While some of the early colonizers migrated west, many stayed and built up some of America’s great cities, including Portland, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Charleston, and Miami. Now this region is facing an unprecedented challenge caused by the changing climate. The sea level is rising, and due to a variety of oceanographic and topographic factors, it is rising faster on the US Atlantic Coast than it is globally. The greatest increase will be felt in the “hot zone”, from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to north of Boston, Massachusetts.