New research shows the sea rose at six times the global rate in the southeastern United States between 2011 and 2015.
The University of Florida study suggests sea level rise is punctuated by peaks and valleys, like one high point that stretched from Cape Hatteras in North Carolina to Miami.
Lead author Arnoldo Valle-Levinson likens sea level rise to a storm surge.
"And on top of that storm surge you have waves that go up and down and that make the surge be more dangerous when a wave is at the peak."
He began investigating as the Indian River Lagoon grew saltier after 2011. There, sea level rise was nearly 10 times the global rate of about a foot a century.
Valle-Levinson points to variations in weather patterns.
