East Coast seas on the rise

InsideNova ^ | 6/25/2012 | Seth Borenstein

[McBuff]

From Cape Hatteras, N.C., to just north of Boston, sea levels are rising much faster than they are around the globe, putting one of the world's most costly coasts in danger of flooding, government researchers report.

U.S. Geological Survey scientists call the 600-mile swath a "hot spot" for climbing sea levels caused by global warming. Along the region, the Atlantic Ocean is rising at an annual rate three times to four times faster than the global average since 1990, according to the study published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

It's not just a faster rate, but at a faster pace, like a car on a highway "jamming on the accelerator," said the study's lead author, Asbury Sallenger Jr., an oceanographer at the agency. He looked at sea levels starting in 1950, and noticed a change beginning in 1990.

Since then, sea levels have gone up globally about 2 inches. But in Norfolk, Va., where officials are scrambling to fight more frequent flooding, sea level has jumped a total of 4.8 inches, the research showed. For Philadelphia, levels went up 3.7 inches, and in New York City, it was 2.8 inches.

Climate change pushes up sea levels by melting ice sheets in Greenland and west Antarctica, and because warmer water expands.

[crusty old prospector]

Too many people living in urban sprawl. They are sucking on the groundwater too hard.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

The land level is dropping. The last continental ice sheet depressed the Earth’s crust in the NY- New England area. It caused it to bulge out around the Carolinas. Isostatic compensation is occurring and the USGS appears to be to dumb to know what is happening.

[Safetgiver]

Good. I won’t have to travel so far to go tuna fishing.

[Real Cynic No More]

It’s quite obvious that we need to build a pipeline from the east coast to the west, so that water can be pumped over there to lower the water on the east coast. We may need to supplement it with railway and highway tank cars if the pipeline can’t pump water fast enough!

I smell another government subsidy coming!

[ThunderSleeps]

Exactly, unless the laws of gravity and physics suddenly take a little holiday in those areas. Water is, well, fluid and will flow. It doesn't just "rise" in one area and not in another. (*) You don't have to fill both ends of your bathtub equally - the water flows. So the notion that sea levels would rise in one area but not in another is preposterous. It marks the original article and those pushing it as not serious, as having some other agenda.

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(*) Yes we're all aware that moon-driven tidal action makes water temporarily rise and fall, that flowing water can "pile up" against an obstacle (eg. think waves on a beach), and that wind and low pressure systems can drive "storm surge" up onto a coastal area. We're talking long-term equilibrium here.

[Mach9]

James Michener’s CHESAPEAKE describes the rising of that bay over the course of millennia.

[al baby]

could it just be beach erosion ?

[lurk]

Sad thing is, there are tens of millions of people dumb enough to think this is possible.

[SnuffaBolshevik]

"It's not just a faster rate, but at a faster pace...."

[tgusa]

I have lived in the Norfolk, VA area for 30 years and I’m here to tell ya it floods every time it rains hard. Always has.

[marron]

U.S. Geological Survey scientists call the 600-mile swath a "hot spot" for climbing sea levels caused by global warming. Along the region, the Atlantic Ocean is rising at an annual rate three times to four times faster than the global average since 1990, according to the study published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Please, people, this is serious. We need to elect more Democrats before its too late.

[Vaquero]

[Road Warrior ‘04]

So, sea levels are rising in only one area? What’s that all about? The world is tilting....

[winodog]

I am gonna go out on a limb and risk ridicule.

How the heck can sea level be different heights in certain areas?

I realize tides and storms cause large amounts of water to rise and fall in height but when the dust clears sea level is sea level, is it not?

Its also higher near the equator because the pull of the sun is strongest there but its a constant

[liberalh8ter]

Pssshhh....everyone knows it's because of all the illegals we have in America now. The extra weight is pushing down on the ground and making the water pop up. Pretty soon, we'll tip over.

[cookcounty]

Ice-age rebound in the arctic and antarctic, and in the more northerly areas, causes land to rise. Finland is growing by 2.7 square miles per year as the land "rebounds," which means the displaced water has to go somewhere, namely to lower latitude areas.

This is nothing new. The old port at Jakobstad, (aka Kokkola) Finland is now a kilometer away from the sea.

[4yearlurker]

Henry Charlton Beck rode throughout South Jersey in the 1930s & 40s writing about the vanished and forgotten towns. One town,down by Cape May was called Portsmouth (A whaling village)was completely swallowed by the ocean,cemetery and all,around 1900. It appears that the ocean rising is has been going on long before the green weenies were born.

[cuban leaf]

—is the sea level rising or is the land level dropping?—

I just clicked on the link to ask the exact same question. It’s not rocket science.

[avacado]

"It's not just a faster rate, but at a faster pace,... said the study's lead author, Asbury Sallenger Jr., an oceanographer at the agency."

Same thing dumba$$.

[davius]

I have seen this phenomenon before. During the 70’s in Gunnison, CO, water levels rose to nearly 1,200 feet and stayed there for almost an entire month one night. It is difficult to come by records for this event as everyone who witnessed it died, of thirst.