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Earth

Sea Levels are Already Rising in America's Southeast. A Preview of the Future? (msn.com) 77

The Washington Post visits one of over 100 tide-tracking stations around the U.S. — Georgia's Fort Pulaski tide gauge: Since 2010, the sea level at the Fort Pulaski gauge has risen by more than 7 inches, one of the fastest rates in the country, according to a Washington Post analysis of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data for 127 tide gauges. Similar spikes are affecting the entire U.S. Southeast — showing a glimpse of our climate future... [I]n the previous 30 years, the ocean rose about 3.7 inches. And the deluge stretches all across the South and the Gulf Coast; over the past 14 years, sea levels in the U.S. South have risen twice as fast as the global average...

Scientists suspect part of that is because of the Gulf Stream — a long band of warm water that follows the coast up from the equator and then, near Cape Hatteras, turns out into the Atlantic Ocean. The waters of the Gulf Stream and the Gulf of Mexico are warming faster than other parts of the Atlantic, boosting sea levels. "The Gulf of Mexico has warmed exceptionally fast over the past decade and a half," Piecuch said. "It's uncontroversial." But scientists have puzzled over where all that heat is coming from... [T]he current heat could be part of long-term variations in ocean currents, and not a clear signal of climate change. But the fact that the change is linked to heat — at the same time as the entire ocean is taking on excess heat from global warming — makes some experts suspicious. "This particular mechanism does not immediately suggest it's just natural variability," [said Ben Hamlington, a research scientist who leads NASAâ(TM)s sea level change team].

For now, sea levels in the Southeast are surging — and they provide an early picture of what most of the United States, and the rest of the world, will experience as oceans rise... On Tybee Island — whose population of 4,000 swells to over 100,000 during the summer months — leaders have gotten used to the constant fight against the waves. Five or six times a year, high tides sweep over the one road that connects the island to the mainland, cutting residents off from services. By 2050, scientists estimate, those high tides will happen 70 days a year. With the help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the city has built dunes to protect vacation homes and local storefronts from the rising water; many homeowners have also raised their properties high up into the air. In Savannah, small businesses and city streets are washed in floods even on bright, sunny days — thanks to high tides that surge into the drainage system. The city estimates that it will cost $400 million to update the stormwater infrastructure over the next two decades. So far, it has raised $150 million...

Other states and cities will soon see the same effects. NASA projections show that in the coming decades, many cities in the Northeast will experience up to 100 more days of high-tide flooding each year.

"Some researchers think that the Southeast acceleration may be linked to long-term weather patterns in the Atlantic Ocean like the North Atlantic Oscillation.

"If so, the trend could switch in the coming decades — with areas of the Northeast seeing rapid sea level rise while the trend in the Southeast slows down."

Sea Levels are Already Rising in America's Southeast. A Preview of the Future?

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  • "It's uncontroversial"

    Regretfully they don't yet have an uncontroversial explanation...

  • that you're not living in Tuvalu or Kiribati. Apologies to these who actually live there.

  • Subsidence (Score:5, Informative)

    by cirby ( 2599 ) on Sunday December 22, 2024 @07:51AM (#65032359)

    For that region, the real issue is subsidence from the removal of ground water, not a localized increase in sea level.

    Fort Pulaski is next to Savannah, which has had a massive population growth (and accompanying increase in fresh water usage) over that time period.

    https://www.wsav.com/weather-news/storm-team-3-now/is-savannah-sinking-major-hotspots-sinking-due-to-subsidence/

    • Re:Subsidence (Score:5, Insightful)

      by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Sunday December 22, 2024 @08:09AM (#65032383)

      So what you're really saying is not only do they have to contend with rising ocean levels, they have to deal with the land sinking at the same time. A double whammy which will accelerate their issues. Got it.

      • Re:Subsidence (Score:5, Insightful)

        by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Sunday December 22, 2024 @09:17AM (#65032447) Journal

        Yes, but if you can rhetorically minimize the effects of sea level rise, then you don't have to admit that increasing GHGs in the atmosphere is heating the surface of the planet and melting year-round ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, so yay!

      • Three things are changing simultaneously, at different rates in time and sometime at different rates in different places.
        1. (1) the volume of water in the ocean basins is changing. (As is the volume in lakes above the ocean basins, in groundwater, and in ice sheets) Fairly rapid changes.
        2. (2) The volume of the ocean basins is changing. As the temperature of mid ocean ridges changes, they are buoyed up occupying volume formerly in the "ocean basin". (And vice versa, of course.) Much, much slower rate of change
      • Somewhat unsurprising, as this has happened numerous places. Tokyo (https://www.iges.or.jp/en/publication_documents/pub/peer/en/1208/IRES_Vol.6-2_403.pdf) discovered this long ago and restricted pumping. Central valley while not worried about ocean levels has dropped feet from overpumping. Another issue in that area is sand being swept away but the people who built on sand get their sand castles protected. Impressive what can be done, but at what cost and must be done continuously because well, sand.
    • Re:Subsidence (Score:5, Informative)

      by ObliviousGnat ( 6346278 ) on Sunday December 22, 2024 @08:41AM (#65032413)

      According to your link:

      In general, the East Coast is sinking by about 2 millimeters per year. On top of that, the estimated sea level rise is around 4 millimeters per year. There are hotspots that are at an increased risk for sinking. This includes here in Savannah. Savannah, on average, is sinking at 4 millimeters per year.

      So in Savannah Georgia, 4mm of each annual measurement increase is from sea level rise and 4mm is from sinking.

    • by gtall ( 79522 )

      All of which was pointed out in the article.

    • That's probably a real issue (I don't have more than a vague idea of where these places are ; not my continent ; not even my hemisphere), but that's a local and temporary issue.

      The fundamental reason that this part of the North American coast is subsiding, and will be for thousands of years to come, lays to the north. See that several-km thick mass of ice that covers most of the ground N and W of the glacial moraine of "Long Island"? Nope, neither did I when I was there. Neither of us need to visit the eye

    • Outside of various temporary events (low pressure system {hurricane}, earthquake {tsunami}, lunar tides), how is localized sea-level rise even possible? Gravity is pretty effective at compensating (storm surge, tsunami, tides).

  • Filter error: You can type more than that for your comment.

  • by MMC Monster ( 602931 ) on Sunday December 22, 2024 @08:20AM (#65032389)

    I'm really excited to see where this is headed.

    Things that I am expecting in the next 30 years (my potential lifetime):
    - "breaking" of the Gulf Stream. Will this mean Europe will freeze over? Sudden increased waterfall in Africa and a more temperate climate there?
    - A major U.S. costal city (New Orleans?) will have to create water mitigation systems (dams, levees, sea walls, flood gates) that are permanently in place to prevent complete flooding. That system will break often enough that the city will be eventually abandoned (as it will be uninsurable).
    - Pandemics (with death on the scale of Covid-19) will become more common, occurring every 5 years or less.
    - Drinkable (potable) water in the U.S. will increase in price 5-fold (when indexed for inflation). Free water as restaurants will go away.

    It's going to be interesting times for those of us left alive!

    • by evanh ( 627108 )

      And hypocritical bastards will still vote to use force to take what they can. Misery is easy, as they say.

    • - "breaking" of the Gulf Stream. Will this mean Europe will freeze over? Sudden increased waterfall in Africa and a more temperate climate there?

      Possibly and probably worst affected will be the Nordic/Scandinavian countries. But possible reductions in rainfall in India, South America and western parts of Africa, which could affect tree growth and agriculture. The Amazon has already experienced a decrease in rainfall.

    • Another fun artifact of the AMOC stopping is 2-3 feet of sea level rise on the northern East Coast of the US. If the current stops pulling water away to the north, the rotation of the earth will have it pile up on the coast.

    • Pretty much all of Florida is in danger of being submerged too. Contrary to a previous post most of the US is on solid bedrock. But Florida is for all practical purposes on a sandbar.
  • Then why do those who claim to be most concerned about this want to live on the coasts?
    • by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Sunday December 22, 2024 @09:19AM (#65032453) Homepage Journal

      To steelman their position:

      They are millionaires who can afford the homes and potentially afford the losses but they don't even have to.

      Thanks to the National Flood Insurance Program a lower middle-class woodworker in Spokane will pay taxes and a single mom in Phoenix will pay ever-higher grocery bills to cover the losses of the coastal millionaires.

      In DC they refer to these citizens as "The Jamokes". It's pure disdain.

      But not even Martha's Vineyard is building new sea walls so they don't even believe it.

      So you just need to pay more taxes to change the weather.

      For another 29 days.

      • by XXongo ( 3986865 )

        To steelman their position:

        The steelman position is that these (unnamed) people read the IPCC sea-level rise projections and buy houses that are well above the anticipated sea level rise.

        For example, you mention Martha's Vinyard. I googled mansions on Martha's Vinyard, and here's the first image I got https://boojblogbucket.s3.us-w... [amazonaws.com]
        This will not be encroached by sea level in the next few centuries.

      • But not even Martha's Vineyard is building new sea walls so they don't even believe it.

        At hazard due to my hazy grasp of foreign geography, but isn't "Martha's Vinyard" a good deal further north. Yes - if the Norse got there to leave archaeology, then it's not going to be "Deep South", is it?

        If they're further north, they're going to be closer to the "balance" point between post-glacial rebound (centred approximately on Montréal, or further N into Quebec) and the annular post-glacial depression

    • by XXongo ( 3986865 ) on Sunday December 22, 2024 @10:12AM (#65032517) Homepage

      Then why do those who claim to be most concerned about this want to live on the coasts?

      Every time I've seen one of these posts "XX celebrity has house right on the ocean! That means global warming is fake!" posts, when I look up exactly where the house is and check against a topo map, I find it's on a ridge overlooking the ocean.

      High enough that even the exceptional sea-level rise in this article is not going to flood them in this century or next.

      • yeah, everybody tried to claim Al Gore was a hypocrite for buying 'ocean front' property, when it was atop a cliff lol

        Now in CA that might not last as long as you'd expect, but it won't be 'sea level/flooding' that does it in.

      • Re:Serious question (Score:4, Interesting)

        by RockDoctor ( 15477 ) on Sunday December 22, 2024 @12:57PM (#65032745) Journal
        The last time we were house hunting, my wife didn't understand why I went over a city map with a calculating eye and a thick red marker. "I won't even consider houses in these areas,"

        -Why?

        "Tsunami risk here, here, and here. It may be 9000 years since there was last tsunami run-up around here, but it was only 9000 years since there was last tsunami run up in these areas."

        -And these other areas?

        "Ground slope under 1% - in heavy rain, the water will struggle to flow away. These areas are also, mostly, close to one or other river, and prone to general flooding."

        -What about the people who've already brought houses there?

        "They should have hired a geologist to advise them. I'd have given them the same advice for the price of a couple of beers. I do routinely for friends."

  • And the ground is sinking a little, Florida is famous for that
    • by gtall ( 79522 )

      What if they are right and Florida is reclaimed by the Atlantic Ocean? Do you feel lucky? These are scientists who study the problem. You are some yokel shooting from the hip and saying nothing of import.

      • Shit happens, if you dont want to be a victim of it then get the fuck outa the way
      • Shooting from the hip "yokels" are sometimes right. And in this case, he (?) almost certainly is. See my posts on isostatic rebound and it's surrounding depression, up thread.
    • The article discusses the land sinking.

  • A preview of the future? What a bold hypothesis. /sarcasm

  • For some weird reason, your ego wants you to be Important, with the capital "I". It is very common to want to live in near-apocalyptic times, to be one of the special people who gets to see the world end. And you have an innate sense of fairness (as often as it gets twisted in unhelpful ways like envy), which is why you want to see the fools who brought it about suffer for their stupidity.

    It's not even a religious thing. I'm about as atheistic as our primate brains get and I have the desire.

    It's why I'm

  • I appreciate that this summary included the uncertainties about cause and future effects. It's much more balanced than the usual end-of-days reporting.

  • Are we assuming this sea level rise is from CO2 released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels? There seems to be wide agreement on that point. So, what should we do about it.

    A great deal of our electricity comes from coal and natural gas. If we assume electric vehicles are going to replace fossil fuels for transportation then petroleum will be replaced by electricity. If we assume synthesized hydrocarbons will replace petroleum as transportation fuel and industrial feed stock then we can assume

    • Managed retreat is the best option for most communities. Highly populated areas with money (Miami comes to mind) might get by raising up the buildings.

      Insurance underwriting should be cancelled in those areas where sea levels are expected to take over in the next hundred years or so.

  • Dear leader tells us that climate change isn't real. It and and supposed consequences are nothing more than a hoax made up by China and the libtards to hurt our most excellent and infallible economy. And what dear leader says must be the truth, because dear leader would never, ever, lie to us... right? RIGHT???

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