Posted on 09/14/2014 7:55:53 AM PDT by Maceman
Where are the effects of global warming already having a major impact? In places like South Florida and especially Miami, which faces major long-term threats from a slow but stealthy adversary: sea level rise.
In this region, sea levels already have risen by about a foot since 1880. By the end of this century, according to the latest assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, they're expected to rise by another 1 to 3 feet, and possibly as high as 5 to 6 feet.
This poses dire threats to Miami's fresh water supplies, which already are being affected by rising seas pushing saltwater into its underground aquifers.
“Because South Florida sits on very porous limestone rock, the water doesn’t just come up over the edge – it comes in through that porous rock underneath," said Nicole Hammer Hernandez, the program manager of Florida Atlantic University's climate change initiative, in an interview with weather.com.
(MORE: How High Will Sea Level Rise in Miami?)
The bad news doesn't stop at the surface, however. Because Miami is built on a foundation largely made up of limestone -- which water passes through easily -- building higher storm surge barriers won't solve the problem of keeping seawater out. "So if you build a seawall, the wall will prevent water from coming up over that edge, but the water is still going to come in underground," she added.
That's a particularly bad omen for sensitive ecological treasures like Everglades National Park (its elevation varies from 0 to 8 feet above sea level), as it lies virtually unprotected from the expected onslaught of salt water intrusion into inland water systems.
Meanwhile, Miami's population growth hasn't stopped in recent years, rising from about 249,000 people in 1950 to more than 410,000 today, with more than 5.5 million scattered across the Miami metro area.
"Some people say, we’ll just raise the buildings, we’ll put everything on stilts, and we can manage that way," said Hernandez. "That solves one piece of the problem. But the other piece is, where are we going to get our fresh water from?"
More (including video report) at: http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/earths-10-places-where-climate-change-happening-fastest-20140812
I wish I knew how to make $150 million on legal fraud.
Note: Miami has been underwater for decades. A good scrubbing with H2O can only help.
Miami Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. LOL
IF you believe THAT.. it is because you WANT to believe it..
have no way of checking and don't really care anyway..
Virginia Sea Level
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/09/13/virginia-sea-level/
Sea level rise slows while satellite temperature ‘pause’ dominates measurement record
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/04/28/sea-level-rise-slows-while-satellite-temperature-pause-dominates-measurement-record/
Sea Water Level, Fresh Water Tilted
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/03/28/sea-water-level-fresh-water-tilted/
Claim: Antarctic sea-level rising faster than global rate, but a ‘pause’ and other studies suggest ice melt isn’t the only factor
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/09/01/claim-antarctic-sea-level-rising-faster-than-global-rate-but-a-pause-and-other-studies-suggest-ice-melt-isnt-the-only-factor/
Remember the threat of flooded atolls and climate refugees due to sea level rise? Never mind.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/07/31/remember-the-threat-of-flooded-atolls-and-climate-refugees-due-to-sea-level-rise-never-mind/
Latest NOAA mean sea level trend data through 2013 confirms lack of sea level rise acceleration
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/07/16/latest-noaa-mean-sea-level-trend-data-through-2013-confirms-lack-of-sea-level-rise-acceleration-2/
What is sea level?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q65O3qA0-n4
I see. But sea levels have only risen by about a foot in one place? LOL.
All those displaced Floridians will now be climate refugees! Where should we put them all? Gaza? The West Bank?
Miami is hot. Who knew?
Mexico. Turn the migratio/amnesty/refugee table on Mexico.
“Used to be before computers they reported accurately what the weather was going to be, “
I am going on 68 and I never remember when they could accurately predict the weather ...
I had this discussion Friday night with a few friends. Threw this at them.
The reason god gave us oil and coal was to regulate the climate. Climate is our gauge for how much we should be using. Too much and the earth will freeze. Not enough and the earth will burn up.
This explains the global cooling scare of the 70’s and now the global warming scare. Our problem is we are NOT burning enough fossil fuels so the more we get away from oil and coal the warmer it is going to get.
My contention was the invention of fracking was gods way of giving us a better way to preserve the environment while at the same time taking the oil we need to drive the normalization of “the” climate.
My lib friends just stared at me. I told them, we already have a baseline based on the scientists own findings and they actually have it backwards. Because they are beholden to the radical left, they are afraid to say the truth. We are not going to burn up. We are going to freeze.
Surpise! Glaciers appearing in Scotland
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3196454/posts
In doing some research I found that it’s been at least 400 years since Scotland has had a glacier.
More likely that Miami is subsiding under the weight of all that infrastructure on the spongy soil of the region.
Doesn’t your pissing in the ocean increase the overall volume of the ocean by 8 ounces? That is the concern of the so called melting ice caps, isn’t it? So if an icecap melts in Greenland, how does that not increase the overall volume of the ocean?
Why would it raise the sea level in Miami by a foot and Mobile Alabama by only an inch?
Indeed - it's called salt water intrusion and because of the density difference between salt and fresh water, it takes much more freshwater to push salt water out once it has encroached. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltwater_intrusion
More likely that Miami is subsiding under the weight of all that infrastructure on the spongy soil of the region.
...
I once heard the same thing about Manhattan, but I also read that the buildings are lighter than the material removed to lay their foundation.
Anyway, South Florida below a couple of feet of muck is covered with limestone and coral rock. That’s because Florida used to be covered with water due to global warming caused by dinosaur farts.
$200M after taxes!
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