A historic pier in Boston was submerged in water after a king tide hit the waterfront in early October.

Boston's Long Wharf was covered in seven inches of saltwater after experiencing a king tide, according to WCVB.

King tides are naturally occurring high tides during new or full moons. They have increased in intensity in recent years because of rising sea levels.

Researchers from Stone Living Lab were on the pier observing the flooding. They estimated that sea levels near Boston Harbor have risen nearly a foot in the past 100 years.

The team is looking into ways to incorporate natural solutions into the shoreline to make it resilient to these tides.

"We could imagine in a place like Boston, can we create living shorelines?" Rebecca Shoer, education manager for Stone Living Lab, told WCVB. "Places where there's native, natural wildlife that can actually take in water, store it, drain it away, even filter it."

Sea levels are rising due to melting ice sheets and warming ocean temperatures. Global sea levels rose nearly four inches from 1993 to 2023, according to Climate.gov.

This change has the potential to shrink our coastlines and put those communities at risk. For example, hundreds of thousands of residents in the San Francisco Bay Area face major flooding if this trend continues, potentially causing over $150 billion in property damage.

This issue is exacerbated by the fact that insurers are failing to keep up with extreme weather events that are destructive to homes. After one storm, some Floridian homeowners struggled to get their claims paid out for flood damage.

Human activity directly affects rising sea levels. Dirty energy usage and overcrowded landfills contribute to heat-trapping pollution put into the atmosphere. These gases warm the planet, which then causes glaciers to melt and oceanic temperatures to rise.

However, we are not powerless to stop this phenomenon. Individuals can do their part to educate themselves on critical climate issues and reduce waste where they can.

Stone Living Lab researchers are testing various methods to help mitigate flooding in Boston Harbor and make it more resilient to climate change.

The group focuses on creating nature-based solutions that restore coastal ecosystems while minimizing flood risk.

It has tried creating barriers that attract diverse organisms as well as marshes that absorb excess water, according to its website.