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
>>>What physics are involved when the sea level rises in one place and not another?<<<
Exactly. The notion of localized sea-level rise is ludicrous on the face of it. My employer has some facilities on an island in the Chesapeake Bay (a tidewater region), with a max elevation of only 2 or 3 feet. One can pull up maps from the 17th century showing the island’s contours, and they are essentially identical to today’s contours. If the oceans raised a foot, this island would be 80% under water, and it is not, obviously.
We are always told to ignore when weather is cold in some area since regional temperatures do not equal climate. But we are supposed to pay close attention to these areas?
The extra troops in Guam are causing the Earth to tilt, causing an uneven distribution of water.
water is now split-level
Here’s another bit of Global Warming silliness from the “Weather” Channel-a weather report from 2050:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65ScX7kNR_g
Obozo, next time you're playing golf in Miami, be sure to wave your hands over the seas to stop them from rising.
In the ‘50s and ‘60s the “scientists” and textbooks taught that over millions of years the Americas continents were “drifting” away from the western coast of the old world.
They taught that the Americas East Coast was slowly receding while the Pacific coast was slowly rising out of the sea.
That science was settled.
Is that science still settled? Or is is politically convenient to constantly adjust settled science?
Good response.
going on 19+ years with no warming, I have no idea what this drivel is talking about.
You apparently didn’t have Dr. George on the tube, or even now we have some old timers here in So. Cal that were predicting the weather back in the seventies quite accurately, but no more.
Seems to me the bottom line is the computer models are not correct, because these people called meteorologists today can’t hit the mark even like a stopped clock.
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 oil, gas and coal 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 industry and 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.
As usual I was called a racist and a tool of Fox News.
Terrell, Not one IPCC assertion has been correct. As a matter of fact they put forth nothing but MANIPULATED POLITICAL SCIENCE data to support their anti american agenda. So stop with the AGW BS.
testing...testing...1,2,3..is this thing on ?
“almost a foot” is really 5 to 8 inches.
Florida had recorded 5-8 inches of sea level rise in the last 50 years, a panel of officials and scientists testified at a Senate hearing on Miami Beach in April.
and about 8 inches overall since 1880.
so 8 inches equal a foot.
Good post. Right on.
Let’s try this sentence instead-
Fresh water supplies, which already are being affected by cramming more and more people into homes built on floodplains and on top of aquifers, while they pump the fresh water out and waste most of it...
Crowded cities are peoplehives, and that uses up all the resources-that hasn’t changed in 1000’s of years...
If that's the case, ask them to point out where your conclusions stray from actual fact. Tell them that they cannot site studies that have a vested interest in the outcome...only raw facts will do. When I do that, my usual response from the libs is: "That may be, but I don't believe it!" and they walk away.
Idiots, true, but unfortunately, a lot of them must vote...sometimes more than once. They also seem to breed.
Washington and the United Nations?
Part of the reason I don’t use the weather channel or its app anymore.
You wrote: “Seems to me the bottom line is the computer models are not correct”
bttt Nor will they ever be. Here’s why from the world’s greatest living physicist:
http://edge.org/conversation/heretical-thoughts-about-science-and-society
Still more silly - but extremely profitable - climate change nonsense.
Scientists are making the Big Bucks churning out this dreck, even as they marginalize and impede the careers of those who attempt to speak the truth.
Marxists will say and/or do anything to seize power and the control of government funds.
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