Vancouver - Fraser River Delta Sinking Far Faster Than Thought (Contains Vancouver's Airport)

[hatrack]

Startling new research from the Geological Survey of Canada shows that Vancouver International Airport and other large facilities along the lower reaches of the Fraser River delta are falling below sea level much faster than previously imagined.

The airport could find itself more than 130 centimetres below the high-tide mark in the Strait of Georgia by the end of the century - and research indicates that low-lying land along the Fraser as far upstream as Maple Ridge and Langley are also sinking.

Studies this year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predict a sea level rise of about 16 centimetres by the end of the century due to global warming - water expands as it gets warmer. The difference for communities along the Fraser delta - and a handful of coastal venues in Canada - is that they sit on soft land that is sinking under its own weight.

When you couple rising seas with sinking land, you get a double whammy in terms of future threats to urban development as the ocean's high tides creep farther inland. The data shows that the weight of a building is the critical factor - single-family homes aren't facing the same kind of impacts, according to Stephane Mazzotti, a Sidney-based researcher with the Geological Survey of Canada.

EDIT

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=00c485c3-108e-414c-8443-d1511ece692d&k=27525

[Doctor Cynic]

1. Lucky for us...

...at least we have billions to spend on flood barriers if worst comes to worst. But the people of Bangladesh won't be so fortunate.

[kestrel91316]

2. Is the Fraser River delta sinking? Or is sea level rising??

[XemaSab]

3. Yet again,