Historical Smithsonian Museum Plagued the Effects of Climate Change

The National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex, has about two million precious items reflecting the American story.

The Smithsonian, unfortunately, is in grave danger due to climate change: its prized structures are very vulnerable to floods, and several may soon be submerged.

Geographical Location

The National Mall, the tremendous two-mile park planted with elms that span from the Lincoln Memorial to the United States Capitol, is surrounded by eleven great Smithsonian museums and galleries. Capitol.

That area, though, was formerly marshland. Buildings are also vulnerable to two challenges as the earth heats. Scientists predict that rising sea levels would someday drive water in from the tidal Potomac River, submerging areas of the Mall. More immediately, torrential rainstorms threaten museums and their irreplaceable collections, primarily because many are housed in basements.

Water is already leaking inside the American History Museum.

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At Risk

It gurgles up through the cellar floor. It squirms around displays in the spaces between ground-level windows. It gets into the ducting, then makes its way through the structure, dripping onto display cases. It thieve-like crawls through the ceilings of secured collecting rooms and puddles on the floor.

The staff has been testing measures, such as candy-red flood barriers piled up outside windows. Sensors that look like electronic mouse traps are installed around the building and set alarms when they become wet. Plastic containers on wheels, packed with a cat litter-like substance, hurried back and forth to absorb the water.

So far, the museum's collections have been secured. "We're kind of in trial and error," Ryan Doyle, a Smithsonian facilities manager, said. "It's all about water management."

Floods could knock out electrical and ventilation systems in the basements that keep the humidity at the right level to protect priceless art, textiles, documents, and specimens on display, according to a recent assessment of the Smithsonian's vulnerabilities. Not only are artifacts stored in basements in danger, but floods could knock out electrical and ventilation systems in the basements that keep the humidity at the right level to protect priceless art, textiles, documents, and specimens on display.

Climate Threats

The Smithsonian Institution considers American History the most endangered of its institutions, followed by its next-door neighbor, the National Museum of Natural History.

Climate Central scientists predict that if average global temperatures climb 1.5 degrees Celsius beyond preindustrial levels, some land between the two museums would be flooded at high tide. By 2100, the earth will have warmed by 1.1 degrees Celsius.

Officials with the Smithsonian Institution seek to construct flood gates and other barriers and relocate certain holdings to a proposed site in suburban Maryland. However, many of these initiatives have yet to be funded by Congress, and the reforms would take years to accomplish.

Until then, the Smithsonian is grappling with the reality that it is defending the nation's treasures with sandbags and garbage cans, although it is a well-liked, well-funded, and well-staffed institution.

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