Scientists to issue stark warning over dramatic new sea level figures

[marmar]

via the Guardian UK:


Scientists to issue stark warning over dramatic new sea level figures
Rising sea levels pose a far bigger eco threat than previously thought. This week's climate change conference in Copenhagen will sound an alarm over new floodings - enough to swamp Bangladesh, Florida, the Norfolk Broads and the Thames estuary

Robin McKie, science editor
The Observer, Sunday 8 March 2009


Scientists will warn this week that rising sea levels, triggered by global warming, pose a far greater danger to the planet than previously estimated. There is now a major risk that many coastal areas around the world will be inundated by the end of the century because Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are melting faster than previously estimated.

Low-lying areas including Bangladesh, Florida, the Maldives and the Netherlands face catastrophic flooding, while, in Britain, large areas of the Norfolk Broads and the Thames estuary are likely to disappear by 2100. In addition, cities including London, Hull and Portsmouth will need new flood defences.

"It is now clear that there are going to be massive flooding disasters around the globe," said Dr David Vaughan, of the British Antarctic Survey. "Populations are shifting to the coast, which means that more and more people are going to be threatened by sea-level rises."

The issue is set to dominate the opening sessions of the international climate change conference in Copenhagen this week, when scientists will outline their latest findings on a host of issues concerning global warming. The meeting has been organised to set the agenda for this December's international climate talks (also to be held in Copenhagen), which will draw up a treaty to replace the current Kyoto protocol for limiting carbon dioxide emissions.

And key to these deliberations will be the issue of ice-sheet melting. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - when it presented its most up-to-date report on the likely impact of global warming in 2007 - concluded that sea-level rises of between 20 and 60 centimetres would occur by 2100. These figures were derived from estimates of how much the sea will increase in volume as it heats up, a process called thermal expansion, and from projected increases in run-off water from melting glaciers in the Himalayas and other mountain ranges. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/mar/08/climate-change-flooding

[KewlKat]

1. The future to come for NY?

http://x-journals.com.nyud.net:8080/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/global-warming-new-york1.jpg

[Ghost in the Machine]

2. Time to start building desalination plants all along the coasts..

and start pumping that water in towards the middle of the country. It'll help with the rising water.. *and* it'll create tens of thousands of jobs.

[KewlKat]

5. I thought desalination was the answer too until

someone at DU said that the electricity demands would be too great. I would think some smart person could harness the sun to create clean water through evaporation on a large scale. There are some for families to use.

[KewlKat]

3. Maybe there is some hope to help with CO2?

To slow global warming, scientists are exploring ways to pull carbon dioxide from the air and safely lock it away. Trees already do this naturally through photosynthesis; now, in a new report, geologists have mapped large rock formations in the United States that can also absorb CO2, which they say might be artificially harnessed to do the task at a vastly increased pace.

The report, by scientists at Columbia University’s Earth Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey, shows 6,000 square miles of ultramafic rocks at or near the surface. Originating deep in the earth, these rocks contain minerals that react naturally with carbon dioxide to form solid minerals. Earth Institute scientists are experimenting with ways to speed this natural process, called mineral carbonation. If the technology takes off, geologic formations around the world could provide a vast sink for heat-trapping carbon dioxide released by humans.


http://x-journals.com/2009/rocks-to-soak-up-co2-6000-square-miles-mapped-in-us/

[Ghost in the Machine]

4. Time to start building desalination plants all along the coasts..

and start pumping that water in towards the middle of the country. It'll help with the rising water.. *and* it'll create tens of thousands of jobs.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. No. Water runs back downhill, and the energy required would be enornmous

We use too much energy already - and get most of it by burning fossil fuel. It's going to be a massive problem getting the energy we do need for the world's population without putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere; the amount of water involved in lowering the ocean's level (remember, it covers 70% of the earth's surface) is huge.

[Baclava]

6. Of course, they can afford to be dramatic - they'll be dead in 100 years.

No one will remember.

[Tesha]

7. Will the Tidal Basin reach the Capitol steps?

Otherwise, none of this matters.

Tesha

[SpiralHawk]

8. "There's no way for fatcat Republicon cronies to profit from this." - Rush DraftDodger Limbaugh

"Therefore, it must be more fact-based lib-rul talking points.

"And since I am getting paid $38 million a year by republicon corporations to spout this nonsense, you can be sure I will bloviate it all over the place. Sneer. Smirk."

- Rush DraftDodger Limbaugh (R-propagandist)

[TreasonousBastard]

9. Around here it's a half-million to get a waterfront...

postage stamp lot, and it goes way up from there. That's even in these real-estate depressed times.

So, I asked a guy who just bought one of the more expensive properties what he thought about it being underwater sometime in the future...

"So what? Even if it is true, I'll be dead by then."