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cthulu2016

(10,960 posts)
Wed Jul 11, 2012, 03:48 PM Jul 2012

(Reuters) Rise in sea level can't be stopped: scientists

This is not a "nothing can be done" story. A better headline would be "Some rise in sea level can no longer be stopped."

It is a story about how aggressive mitigation can reduce the most catastrophic effects, but some dramatic sub-catastrophic effects are already baked in the cake. In this case, the process of temperature being distributed throughout the oceans is a very slow process so even temperature changes we have already experienced will take a very long time to reach their maximum effect in thermal expansion of the seas.

A basic thing that not everyone may be aware of, so it doesn't hurt to repeat often:

Melting of ice currently sitting on land can and does add water to the oceans. The melting of the arctic ice cap, however, does not raise sea levels because the Arctic ice cap floats. (When the ice in your drink melts the level of the drink doesn't go up.)

But that distinction (a favorite of warming skeptics) is not central. The rise of sea levels is not primarily due to ice melting, on land or on sea.

It is due to the thermal expansion of water. The volume of fluids increases the warmer they are. (The volume of solids also increases, but not nearly as much as liquids.) The most common application of this effect is a thermometer. The liquid mercury (or alcohol) expands when warmer, pushing the edge of the liquid higher in the thermometer.

The rise in sea levels from global warming is primarily due to the water swelling up as it gets warmer. This effect is tiny, as a percentage, but the volume of the oceans is so great that even a tiny bit of swelling raises the sea levels a good deal.

The "four paragraph rule" makes a hash of this story. I picked the most informative 4 grafs but it's best to read the link.

Rise in sea level can't be stopped: scientists

(Reuters) - Rising sea levels cannot be stopped over the next several hundred years, even if deep emissions cuts lower global average temperatures, but they can be slowed down, climate scientists said in a study on Sunday.

A lot of climate research shows that rising greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for increasing global average surface temperatures by about 0.17 degrees Celsius a decade from 1980-2010 and for a sea level rise of about 2.3mm a year from 2005-2010 as ice caps and glaciers melt.
...
More than 180 countries are negotiating a new global climate pact which will come into force by 2020 and force all nations to cut emissions to limit warming to below 2 degrees Celsius this century - a level scientists say is the minimum required to avert catastrophic effects.
...
"Even with aggressive mitigation measures that limit global warming to less than 2 degrees above pre-industrial values by 2100, and with decreases of global temperature in the 22nd and 23rd centuries ... sea level continues to rise after 2100," they said in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Reuters
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(Reuters) Rise in sea level can't be stopped: scientists (Original Post) cthulu2016 Jul 2012 OP
Thank you for the excellent summary longship Jul 2012 #1
But, But...North Carolina legislated against mentioning rise in sea levels. MiniMe Jul 2012 #2
Sshhhhhh they'll hear you. democrat_patriot Jul 2012 #3
Yeah, North Carolina outlawed it. I wonder what the sea has to say about that. HopeHoops Jul 2012 #5
Let's have a billion more babies and see what happens. Gregorian Jul 2012 #4
... cthulu2016 Jul 2012 #6

longship

(40,416 posts)
1. Thank you for the excellent summary
Wed Jul 11, 2012, 04:00 PM
Jul 2012

I wish more DUers would take the time to add commentary in their posts like this. However, I understand why they often do not. When somebody does provide a substantive synopsis, it does get around the four paragraph rule nicely while preserving copyright.

Good for you, cthulhu2012.

R&K

Gregorian

(23,867 posts)
4. Let's have a billion more babies and see what happens.
Wed Jul 11, 2012, 05:32 PM
Jul 2012

A billion more cars are coming soon. And why not. Don't we all want to live the modern life?

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