The Alaskan capital of Juneau, where sea level appears to be falling due to a rise of the land surface.
One area of Alaska is bucking the global trend of rising sea level due to climate change with land actually emerging from the water.
Coastal residents around the capital of Juneau have noticed that coastline formerly submerged, or swamped by high tides, is now high and dry.
The New York Times reports that receding glaciers in the mountains just east of Juneau are resulting in less weight pushing down on the land.
The ground has begun to bounce back like a cushion, lifting upward faster than rising sea level can keep up with it.
“You can walk around (Juneau) and see what was underwater is turning into grassland and eventually into forest,” University of Alaska Southeast hydrologist Eran Hood told Times reporter Cornelia Dean.
Geologists say that similar effects have been observed around glaciers in Greenland and a few other places.
Photo: Craig Dahl