"Think States Alone Can’t Handle Sea Level Rise? ..." Topic

…Watch California

"Last March, a paper by a geoscientist named Rob DeConto came out in Nature. And as far as geology papers go, it was a big deal: It outlined a new paradigm for how Antarctic ice sheets are impacted by climate change. As the oceans and atmosphere warm, they don't just melt the ice from below; they create honking cracks in glaciers that make it easier for large chunks of ice to break off, slip into the ocean, and disappear. The effects on sea level rise? They could be almost twice what scientists had predicted for the end of the century.

News of that paper soon landed on the desk of Jerry Brown, governor of California and fired-up proponent of climate change science. Now, he has convened a group of seven scientists, including DeConto, to sift through that study and other recent research to calculate new projections for sea level rise—and, importantly, think about what it could mean for California's coast. Over the next three months, the team will read, discuss, and synthesize. Eventually, they'll arrive at numbers. And those numbers will have huge implications for the Golden State's infrastructure, planning, and the budgets that support them.

In part, Brown formed this committee because an earlier report on sea level rise, just five years old, might already be out of date. The governors of California, Oregon, and Washington commissioned that report in 2010 to describe how sea level rise would affect the west coast in 2030, 2050, and 2100. Since it was released in 2012, California agencies from Caltrans to the state energy commission have used it to make decisions about huge coastal investments and infrastructure, says Gary Griggs, an oceanographer at UC Santa Cruz who was involved with the report. He's now leading the current committee…"
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Amicalement
Armand

That's not "handling sea level rise", that's predicting it. Nothing we can do will stop the sea from rising or even slow it down. People need a heads up so that plans to relocate don't get made too late.

Wonder what will happen to all those poor Californians? Who's going to take them in? And those sad peoples from Hollywood? Oh shame its going to be such a calamity when they're all got to go to Utah. Utah!! Noooooo!

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Don't forget all those Floridians.

Well thank God that, "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.", from a famous tweet on 11/6/12. Whew! I was worried there.

Wonder what will happen to all those poor Californians?

Don't forget all those Floridians.

First the oceans have to actually rise and so far they really haven't.

"Don't forget all those Floridians."

What the heck are all those Floridians doing in California? I guess California really doesn't care who moves in!!!

It's also quite interesting that so many more stations show signs of acceleration than deceleration, especially when one requires statistical significance. The evidence is strong: sea level rise is truly accelerating, as evident in global reconstructions from tide gauges, in the analysis of recent data from individual tide gauges, and in the satellite data.

As if its present rate and acceleration weren't bad enough, the best science indicates more sea level acceleration to come. Both physical and mathematical models suggest a range of from 2 to 6 feet by the year 2100. Unfortunately the latest IPCC report isn't up-to-date with the latest science; one hopes the next will reflect the overall opinion of the community of genuine sea level experts, that the problem has gone beyond "worrisome" and become critical. Coastal regions everywhere should be preparing for what's to come, and the uncertainties in how much and how fast those changes will happen is not a valid reason to minimize preparation; a wise society realizes that uncertainty is not your friend.

But of course "free-market think tanks" (translation: corporate profit over public good) will continue to dispute this, will continue to discredit any data which shows how bad the problem is while touting any data which they can present in some way to make their "don't worry be happy" case. Personally, I'd rather be prepared for what's really ahead. Living in a fantasy world where sea level rise will only be an annoyance, is fine for the super-rich. For the rest of humanity, believing such fantasy will only make the inevitable worse.

Martin,

You are going to need to do better than post a chart that is using mm per year.

Because 5mm's is less than a 1/4 inch.

Oh I know that it looks big on that chart but less than a 1/4 inch per year means that it is going to take a very long to even see 1 foot increase in the level.

Like around 65-75 years.

Sure, if you assume a linear trend… But if you would have read the accompanying text, you'd see that the evidence isn't showing that we're going to get a linear rise in ocean level, but an accelerating rise in sea level, which by the way is a FAR cry from denying the existence of sea level rise – which you did in a previous post in this thread.

Both physical and mathematical models suggest a range of from 2 to 6 feet by the year 2100

So what is it 2' or 6'?

Oh and by the year 2100 so 83 years from now.

These are the types of claims that are made all the time and well they have not come true yet.

2' to 6' means that a very large part of Florida disappears, that's what it means. And once it rises, it ain't going back for a very loooooong time…

Hey, at the very least, it makes for,some cool SCI FIi gaming! :)

TMP link

So what is it 2' or 6'?

Lol!

So gimme the Vegas odds;
A.) California will fall into the ocean
B.) California will be swamped by rising sea level
C.) California will be Ozoned by spray on deodorant

Let's say six feet, then. Houses built that close to the ocean's level are just asking for it anyway. Build a levee. Plenty of time. Better yet a whole system of dikes. Plenty of time! Or, just turn your streets into canals a la Venice style. "Lake Town" here we come. Is that a problem? Given the amount of time to meet the crisis, I say "no". There is always moving further inland, and higher. Personally, I'd move…………

Yep, it'll all be awesome,

We'll all live in canal strewn little "Venices". How romantic. We can get rid of our polluting cars and all ride gondolas. Like I said, awesome.

Hey wait…….isn't this all just a world wide conspiracy started by the Chinese to destroy the US's rice production?