Antarctic Ice Cap Breaking Up? 16
vrmlguy writes "Here's another reason why I'm glad to live well away from any of the coasts, East, Left, or Gulf: The Antarctic icecap (and a large number of Northern Hemisphere glaciers) may be melting faster than previously suspected. New Orleans, which is already 8 feet below sea level, may be just a memory in less than a century." Interesting stuff.
Re:New Orleans problems (Score:1)
Re:Why salt encroaches (Score:1)
The problem with New Orleans is that once the coast is gone, waves will be beating on its levees. At that point, you better have some kick-ass levees or just leave.
I guess what I mean to say, is that the salt water encroachment is a problem with above surface water, not ground water, in Louisiana. It gets to the plants through natural erosion of the coast line.
This past summer, which was the second year of a bad drought here, rice farmers were pulling salt water from their wells. I assume that is what you are referring to.
Re:Why salt encroaches (Score:1)
Opportunity? (Score:1)
Better patent it before anybody else starts using my business model.
who the hell (Score:1)
Re:Well, that's nice, but let's not forget... (Score:1)
Damned 5cr1p7 |1dd1e5 (Score:1)
Maybe they should get some MicroFans [slashdot.org]
Why this matters (Score:2)
To give a specific example, I live in eastern Long Island, where a huge fuss is made about protecting our "sole source aquifer" from pollutants. What's the biggest threat to the aquifer? Salt water encroachment - and the extent of that is determined by the effective "height above sea level" of the water pressure. Currently the highest pressure points are 50 feet above sea level - but huge areas of the aquifer are only at pressures a few feet above sea level, so a sea level rise of even 3 feet would tremendously reduce the quantity of fresh water available here.
Multiply that problem by thousands of local regions with similar issues, and you're talking some serious costs that go with even a small sea level rise. This is a big deal folks!
New Orleans problems (Score:2)
The article mentions that the barrier islands and wetlands around the mouth of the Mississippi are shrinking. This is largely due to the flood control and silt control on the Mississippi River. The dams and levees that keep the river navigable and that protect all those farms along the river also prevent the natural transport of sediment to the sea. This means that while the weight of the delta continues to cause it to sink, there is not as much sand to keep building new land.
The Army Corps of Engineers, which has been trying to tame the Mississippi for decades, may in the end be responsible for the first abandonment of a major city in the modern era.
Re:who the hell (Score:2)
Eventually, however the transported heat will lower the overall temperature far enough that the ice will start to melt. By then of course it is too late. I think its too late now. There is nothing we can do, there is probably nothing we could have done. It was inevitable.
There is abundant evidence for global warming. If you go looking for it you'll be amazed.
As for the opposite view, what are the options:
* GCMs arent accurate
* the old satellite argument. Now didn't I read that the recalculation of the satellite orbits showed that the orbital decay masked the increasing temperature ?
Can't think of any more. Apart from the personal slander I've heard.
On the opposing side what evidence is there for warming:
* the thermal pulse propagating down through the perma frost.
* increased wind and wave action over the last 40 years.
* ice thickness reduction in the Arctic and Antarctic.
* coral bleaching
* oxygen isotope measurements of the last 10,000 years.
etc...
But since this seems to be a religious / ideological view with many of the proponents I have absolutely no expectation that they will change their minds. If they are genuinely interested in the truth I would only suggest they look at the evidence and distrust anything that feels 'comfortable'.
Peter
North Atlantic (Score:2)
-OctaneZ
Re:Well, that's nice, but let's not forget... (Score:2)
I also think the media's attempts to hype up global warming are regrettable. Flimsy alarmism gives the impression that global warming is not a real problem, which I think it is. Air-conditioned corporate cubicle life can probably be totally insulated from the effects of global warming for the forseeable future. The difficulties are elsewhere:
Well, that's nice, but let's not forget... (Score:2)
Darn media blitz of bad news with no thought behind it...
Re:Why salt encroaches (Score:2)
Re:Well, that's nice, but let's not forget... (Score:2)
I know that walls are commonly used to hold back water, that's got to be a nice target for oh, TERRORISTS
"Titanic was 3hr and 17min long. They could have lost 3hr and 17min from that."
Re:Well, that's nice, but let's not forget... (Score:3)
They interviewed Greenpeace and a dozen other American sources. All were predicting disaster in outrageous terms, and some professor even suggested the survival of the human race was in question, citing the demise of the dinosaurs.
There was this 20 second clip slipped into the middle of the thing, you could easily miss it, in which they interviewed a Dutch minister who was in charge of Dikes and port infrastructure, or something. He gently chuckled at the reporter and told her (in perfect English, of course) "I could raise our walls one meter in three years for a third of our annual budget. If the sea starts rising it won't be an issue for us at all; we'll appropriate a small increase, and spread out the funding so it will be unnoticeable." And then he went on to suggest that the interviewer talk to people from poor nations in the South Pacific, saying that the Western world had enough money to take care of itself.
No American agency head would ever say something like that. If you asked them about pink aliens, they would claim immediate danger and the need for double their budget and an "awareness campaign".
I think our government system is better than that parlimentary system, but the individuals staffing it are a collection of third prizes. It's our own fault of course; we reward hypesters and alarmists, and punish the calm and accurate.