Rising Sea Level Big Concern Along S.C.

Associated Press ^ | December 07, 2006 | Unknown

[decimon]

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Global warming and a rise in sea levels could dramatically affect South Carolina's coast, according to scientists and environmental officials meeting at a conference in Charleston this week.

The rising ocean is "going to shave off a ton of landscape along the coast," which could drown marshes that act as buffers for storm surge, raising the likelihood of major flooding when the next hurricane hits, said Jim Morris, marine studies professor at the University of South Carolina and director of its Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences.

Morris was at the Southeast Regional Workshop on The Nation's Coasts, hosted by the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. The organization wants to help communities deal with rising sea levels associated with global warming.

The state's beach management law calls for a gradual retreat of new development from the seashore, but building pressures continue from Cherry Grove to Hilton Head Island, said Braxton Davis, a scientist with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control's coastal office.

That could be dangerous with scientists warning the ocean could extend 100 feet or more inland in the next century.

Water temperatures also are rising and that could bring additional problems to South Carolina's coastal waters.

Three summers ago, a married couple became ill from eating a toxin-polluted barracuda that had been caught off the South Carolina coast.

The poisoning is normally associated with species in more tropical Caribbean waters, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But as warm waters expand northward, tropical fish, and potentially new hazards, are following into the South Atlantic's waters, experts said.

[Nasty McPhilthy]

That's rich.

[decimon]

I thought that was it too but I found out that it was the ground that was rising and falling.

Yes, of course. The Earth is a living organism that breathes in and out.

[Nasty McPhilthy]

Interesting. Just what term do they use to refer to this theory?

[MACVSOG68]

We're all gonna drown!!

Well, except for those smart enough to build a two story......

[Nasty McPhilthy]

Exactly what I thought. I don't know anyone who eats cuda.;-)

[EGPWS]

Global warming and a rise in sea levels could dramatically affect South Carolina's coast, according to scientists and environmental officials meeting at a conference in Charleston this week.

I wish these officials would spend more time in Minnesota addressing our concerns for global warming.

Since global warming became a topic of concern and many have reaped riches and popularity because of it, our black bear no longer sh!t in the woods.

[tarheelswamprat]

H. John Heinz III Center for Science

Yup. That right.

Mrs. Jon Carry is funding this study

Now we know why she named her foundation "the Tides Foundation". /grin

[Sundog]

http://www.fathersforlife.org/REA/warming10.htm

If you read this article, you will see the factual case that there may have been no statistically significant rise in the sea level since 1840. Now, the Carolinas may be sinking like Louisiana ...

[Smokin' Joe]

That could be dangerous with scientists warning the ocean could extend 100 feet or more inland in the next century.

Sheesh! What poppycock! Erosion alone could do better than that in the next century.

[antti tuuri]

land in greenland should be cheap, it is a huge island with a population of about 60,000 with a stable gov

[Izzy Dunne]

going to shave off a ton of landscape along the coast,

Hmmm. One ton of landscape, 180 or so miles of coast....

What's the problem?

[SuzyQue]

That's a good question. It's hard to measure sea level. What do you compare it to in order to measure it?

[GOPJ]

There's some island in the Pacific that the global warming crowd used to point to as the first that would go under water. Year after year nothing happened to the island and about 10 years ago they dropped it -- it was a few inches above sea level, and it's still a few inches above sea level. I don't remember the name...

My home is on the edge of a mangrove - with a salt water stream at the end of my back yard - and as far as I can tell the stream height follows the same tidal patterns it always has -- it's only at a sustained higher level when a hurricane is within a hundred miles. My home is supposed to be 12 feet above sea level - but when I stand by the water and look at the house it seems more like 8 feet. If I see a change in water level, I'll let you know.

[kinoxi]

That's a good question. It's hard to measure sea level. What do you compare it to in order to measure it?

Different areas of land rise and fall at different rates as well. There can be no definitive measurement from 'one point' of dry land due to natural geologic processes. Not to mention natural erosion which is rather extreme along many parts of worldwide seashores.

[kinoxi]

Tuvalu.

[SuzyQue]

Exactly.

However, Al Gore seems to have the definitive answer. Which is enough to convince me it's nonsense.

[Hoodat]

Great point. I wondered why these same elitist liberals happen to own beachfront property?

[nomorelurker]

"grant fund raising" surely it can't be.

[SquirrelKing]

I live and work here in Beaufort county and spend a lot of time on the water. I have noticed dead trees along the New River and places where the marsh seems to be receding. However, I feel that land and water levels DO rise and fall, sometimes dramatically. The islands around here have been eroding for centuries. Just look at Hunting Island - I've seen inlets opened by "normal" storms and most of the old campground now lies offshore.

The sandbar in the foreground was dry land not long ago;
and the marshy spot halfway down the beach is now open to the sea again.

[Publius6961]

according to scientists and environmental officials meeting at a conference in Charleston this week.

Without names and credentials, they might as well say neurotics in therapy or recovering alcoholics.

Al Gore thinks he's a scientist, fercryinoutloud!