Monday, October 18, 2010

Never mind the skeptics; the tide is rising

Actually, the tide is rising because the sea level is rising. A new publication ignores the skeptical chants of "it ain't happenin', it ain't happenin' " (performed with eyes closed and fingers firmly inserted into ears) and tells us what we should do to get better ready for sea level rise.

"The 420-page book: Understanding Sea-level Rise and Variability, is the work of more than 90 scientists from 13 nations, led by Dr Church, Dr Philip Woodworth from the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory UK, Dr Thorkild Aarup from the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), and Dr Stan Wilson from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."

[ Those are some very accomplished guys, folks out there in reader-land. ]


"It provides a comprehensive overview of current knowledge on the science of sea-level rise, identifies the major impacts, assesses past sea-level change and the factors contributing to sea-level rise, and assesses how extreme events at the coast will change."

Here's another link:
We will need to adapt to rising sea levels



where the good Dr. Church sayeth:

"... coastal development has accelerated over the past 50 years. Many of the world’s megacities are situated at the coast and new infrastructure worth billions of dollars is being constructed. These developments assume that the stable sea levels of the past several millennia will continue. This assumption is no longer true. Populations in low lying islands and deltaic regions are particularly at risk."

So I guess the summary is: adapt or drown (especially if you're a mangrove).

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