Rising sea levels could make Florida residents climate refugees

www.cbc.ca...

O how will we cope with the next several decades?
No more Miami beach....interesting article predicts loss of much of Floridas coast......
Whether I actually believe it......well...nature has her ways of balancing things......new ice age anyone?

The “monster” in climate change, as Wanless sees it, is a warming ocean. Sea levels will rise because water expands as it gets warmer, and oceans are taking up vast amounts of heat produced by global warming.

Is this a new twist? "Expanding" water will make sea levels rise? How come that doesn't happen during any sunny day?

Obamacare death panels will probably kill off most of the Floridians before the state is inundated by rising sea levels.

a reply to: stirling

Never mind climate change - this is what set off alarm bells for me .. .

He notes that the Miami waterfront is lined with construction cranes erecting condo towers that may be uninhabitable in a few decades, and there are even plans to build two new nuclear power plants on the coast south of Miami.

What a great idea to site two new nuke plants at the edge of rising seas. If these people had a brain cell between them they'd be almost as clever as a cabbage, seriously.

And just in case someone with an actual working brain does come along with any input, they have it countered with this .. .

His greatest frustration is with state politicians who are either dismissive of climate science or ignore the risk of sea level rise. North Carolina recently passed legislation that makes it illegal to take scientific sea level projections into account when planning for coastal development.

I can hardly believe that using common sense and doing a job properly is illegal.

The world has gone totally bats.

a reply to: intrptr
It does but its the warmth over the long haul which would actually expand the ocean perceptibly enough.....

a reply to: stirling

Got friends out there who have said their own coast line is rising...and not from erosion. I didn't read the article but I believe my friends when they say its happening. The coastline I live on has more problems with erosion than rising waters that I can see.

It is really not that hard to believe it is rising.

a reply to: doobydoll
That was a real shocker for me too.....didn't Fukishima wake anyone up?

The quest for money and power is destroying our world a piece at a time......Perhaps we do need a great die off.....

originally posted by: intrptr

The “monster” in climate change, as Wanless sees it, is a warming ocean. Sea levels will rise because water expands as it gets warmer, and oceans are taking up vast amounts of heat produced by global warming.

Is this a new twist? "Expanding" water will make sea levels rise? How come that doesn't happen during any sunny day?

I always thought water contracted when heated and expanded when cooled.

Oh well, maybe not.

a reply to: intrptr

Is this a new twist? "Expanding" water will make sea levels rise? How come that doesn't happen during any sunny day?

It does. But when more than just the surface gets warmer it's a lot more noticeable.

a reply to: stirling

…its the warmth over the long haul which would actually expand the ocean perceptibly enough…..

Maybe if the earth stops turning. When water heats enough it turns to clouds.

a reply to: Phage

But when more than just the surface gets warmer it's a lot more noticeable.

Okay, but contributing to the "doom" of the florida coast?

His word for the future of Miami and much south Florida? Doomed.

a reply to: intrptr
That would seem to be the word chosen by Chris Wodskou. But yes, Miami are very low lying areas. Miami has a good deal of infrastructure which will be destroyed by rising sea levels. As do many other coastal cities.

a reply to: doobydoll

I always thought water contracted when heated and expanded when cooled.

Do you mean heated to steam and frozen to ice?



Can someone tell me if the sea levels fall during winter and rise again in spring? Only about a gazillion tons of melting snow and ice from all the worlds mountain ranges and the polar caps, flood rivers and seas every spring?

What about the already melted glaciers and tundra ice? Are sea levels rising at all from that?

a reply to: intrptr

Only about a gazillion tons of melting snow and ice from all the worlds mountain ranges and the polar caps, flood rivers and seas every spring?

In which hemisphere?

a reply to: Phage

Miami has a good deal of infrastructure which will be destroyed by rising sea levels.

"If" seal levels rise…

Interesting argument. Just how do they determine the high "average" water mark over eons? Because fossils are found high on the flanks of Mt. Everest doesn't mean sea levels were once that high.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: intrptr

Only about a gazillion tons of melting snow and ice from all the worlds mountain ranges and the polar caps, flood rivers and seas every spring?

In which hemisphere?

I'm not sure I understand your question. We're discussing 'average' sea level heights? And 'global' temperatures? Except where there is no snow, like the equator, snow and ice build and melt annually. I figure when the spring runoff hits the oceans it "averages" out to… the same?

Its okay to slap my ignorance Phage, I trust your knowledge of scientific issues, so don't hold back?

a reply to: intrptr

Just how do they determine the high "average" water mark over eons?

Who cares about eons? I don't think seaside condos will last that long.

As to how?
sealevel.colorado.edu...

originally posted by: doobydoll
I always thought water contracted when heated and expanded when cooled.

Oh well, maybe not.

It does both. Thermal expansion of fresh water increases above 4*C in both directions.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: intrptr

Just how do they determine the high "average" water mark over eons?

Who cares about eons? I don't think seaside condos will last that long.

As to how?
sealevel.colorado.edu...

Thnaks for the raw data. By the graph in the link you provide, Roughly 3 "mean" inches in twenty three years. Is that attributable to the steady melt of glacier and tundra ice as witnessed? Like a steady "thawing" from the last time ice covered the earth?

Or… to human activity?

Thank you in advance for your input.