U.S. East Coast a Hotspot of Sea-Level Rise 266
Harperdog writes "Nature just published this study of sea-level rise and how global warming does not force the it to happen everywhere at the same rate. Interesting stuff about what, exactly, contributes to this uneven rise, and how the East Coast of the U.S., which used to have a relatively low sea level, is now a hotspot in that the sea level there is rising faster than elsewhere."
Question (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not an expert, I've tried to research this, but I find contradictory information which I assume is related to the political nature of the issue. In a nutshell, why can't we use GPS to determine the actual impact of rising sea levels? It would seem to me to be very elementary to place some sort of beacon in a few spots to determine what the actual sea level is. Granted, you might have to wait for calm waters, but nothing about this seems difficult.
Story on the paper (Score:4, Interesting)
Nature also has a story [nature.com] on the research for those seeking an overview.
Here's a nickel, kid . . . (Score:4, Interesting)
. . . go get yourself some new talking points.
Seriously, the old "Oh, well, things have changed in the past, so what's the worry?" canard?
The processes you describe took place over millions of years.
We're talking relatively drastic changes, over the course of decades, on a highly developed area of an increasingly crowded and interdependent planet.
If a drunk driver speeding through a red light ran over your dog or your kid, would you accept the driver saying, "Look, people die in accidents all the time. In seventy years, a trivial fraction of the age of the Earth, your kid would likely be dead anyway. Calm down and accept change as a normal part of life. And anyway, can you really prove it was my car that killed your kid? Maybe you wiped his blood on my bumper so you could sue me, and infringe on my right to drink and drive!"