Rising seas likely to flood U.S. history

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: AP

Ultimately, rising seas will likely swamp the first American settlement in Jamestown, Va., as well as the Florida launch pad that sent the first American into orbit, many climate scientists are predicting.

In about a century, some of the places that make America what it is may be slowly erased.

Global warming — through a combination of melting glaciers, disappearing ice sheets and warmer waters expanding — is expected to cause oceans to rise by one meter, or about 39 inches. It will happen regardless of any future actions to curb greenhouse gases, several leading scientists say. And it will reshape the nation.

Rising waters will lap at the foundations of old money Wall Street and the new money towers of Silicon Valley. They will swamp the locations of big city airports and major interstate highways.

Storm surges worsened by sea level rise will flood the waterfront getaways of rich politicians — the Bushes' Kennebunkport and John Edwards' place on the Outer Banks. And gone will be many of the beaches in Texas and Florida favored by budget-conscious students on Spring Break.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070922/ap_on_sc/rising_seas;_ylt=AjaogsGH9gaR7GAE.JmpHgis0NUE

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Glacier National Park

Global warming is happening today. ExxonMobil hopes you don't notice.

[NotGivingUp]

1. I think they way over-estimate the time frame.

It will be a lot quicker than 100 years. I would certainly like to find more info on this...on how they predict what will happen to which areas and an estimate as to when. We seem to be getting very limited information, or I just don't know where to look.

[starroute]

22. Try this interactive sea level rise site

http://flood.firetree.net/

It's some sort of Google maps overlay -- comes up by default on a 7 meter rise wiping out most of the Netherlands and a smallish chunk of England. But it's easy to zoom in and out and move around and set different levels from 1 meter to 14.

Playing around with it is extremely educational.

[NotGivingUp]

30. Very cool! Thanks so much! n/t

[Hekate]

35. It won't work for me -- darn -- and I keep wondering how far the seas will be lapping from my door

...Since I live on the coast and am only about 3 miles from the Pacific Ocean.

Hekate

[BlooInBloo]

36. Is your opinion based on your extensive training in geology, oceanography, and climatology?

[Zhade]

37. It's probably based on all the scientists currently saying "WTF, this is happening way faster...

...than we predicted!"

You know, based on staying informed as to what's actually happening these days.

[tekisui]

2. Every estimate they make is proved to be wrong.

Things are changing at an exponential rate that we cannot predict.

[kestrel91316]

23. Unfortunately we CAN. And the truth is horrifying.

[NYVet]

3. 25 years ago, we were told we were all going to freeze to death...

Sorry, but I can't believe that we are going to break the planet.

[leftchick]

6. don't believe your lying eyes

or do you have sunglasses on?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. They're not mutually exclusive

Global warming can cause global cooling

Scientists announced in the July 21, 1999, edition of the journal Nature findings that suggest that global warming can sometimes lead to cold weather or even a worldwide freeze.

Scientists have long known that a severe cold spell occurred after the end of the Pleistocene glaciation, approximately 8,200 years ago. The cause, however, has been a mystery. The authors of the Nature article write that the centuries long cold spell might have been caused by meltwater from the disappearing glaciers, cooling the North Atlantic.

The Laurentide Ice Sheet covered parts of North America with ice up to two miles thick for more than a million years. When the Earth began to warm 10,000 years ago, it retreated back toward the poles. The ice sheet left in its wake at least two lakes containing more water than the Great Lakes combined.

In the Hudson Bay, ice held the water in place like a plug in a bathtub. When the plug finally melted, trillions of gallons gushed into the Labrador Sea, flowing out at 100 times the rate water leaves the Mississippi.

<snip>

The authors conclusions demonstrate how global warming can, paradoxically, provoke a global freeze. If a modern glacier such as the Greenland Ice Sheet melts as a result of rising temperatures in the next century, it could trigger a similar flood and climate fluctuation, the researchers said.

http://www.dinosauria.com/jdp/news/freeze.html

[kimmerspixelated]

14. I think a lot of folks don't realize

that melting glaciers cause a rise but also can slow down the currents, the ones that keep our temps in the normal ranges. Thus, the exact scenario in "The Day After Tomorrow" is not so far-fetched at all.

[kestrel91316]

25. I'm even starting to think the rapid time scale in TDAT was not so

far off the mark, either.

It ain't gonna be no 100 years before things change drastically, sad to say.

[martymar64]

12. No, we'll just drive ourselves into extinction

The earth will recover just fine once we're gone.

[Odin2005]

18. The "Global Cooling" stuff from the 70s was bad science writing few scientists took seriously.

Global warming is accepted by nearly all climatologists.

[niceypoo]

21. One scientist said that in the 70s, one guy

There was no consensus whatsoever. That is the right wing talking point.

[kestrel91316]

24. Aw, geez, not THIS tired old line again.......

I thought KKKarl left the White House.

[blogslut]

26. The planet isn't going anywhere

We are - George Carlin

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. Why don't I remember that?

:shrug:

[Judi Lynn]

28. You can be sure it's not senility. You're not alone.I was absolutely here,don't remember it,either.

Maybe it was something they used to discuss at the right-wing "scientists'" conventions....

[fenriswolf]

4. yeah

you can expect american agriculture to not be able to cope with the climate changes in the next couple years as well as the topographical changes in america, wanna see something scary? more scarier then our glaciers melting, wait and see what happens when we have deserts start forming.

[leftchick]

5. bye bye DC War Memorials

and the WH and congress. Will they be relocated to denver?

[tom_paine]

8. It is only fitting. The Old American Republic has already slipped beneath the waves

and so few have mourned her passing...

It is only fitting.

[ananda]

9. I think it will be more.

This is sobering. Of course, the sea levels will rise faster
and higher because nothing is being done to combat
global warming and pollution.

This is a very serious situation.

[LibDemAlways]

10. Here is what 9th graders in California are being taught

about global warming, something that will surely impact their future:

From my daughter's Geography text, World Geography published in conjunction with National Geographic:

"Some scientists believe that rising levels of pollutants in the atmosphere are contributing to a general increase in the earth's temperatures, a trend they call global warming. Although not all experts agree that global warming is occurring, scientists who study it warn that the increase may have disasterous effects. Higher levels in oceans, they claim, could flood coastal cities and submerge smaller islands."

This is a 2005 text. You'd think they could provide some facts. Pitiful.

This is the same text that blames terrorism on the resentment of people in developing countries toward "the global influence of developed nations." Uh, something tells me it's a bit more complex than that, but this seems to be a variant on the old, reliable, simplistic "they hate us for our freedoms" nonsense.

[rodeodance]

17. thanks----it is part of the dumbing down-keep em docile narritive!

[NotGivingUp]

31. Our tax dollars are paying for them to brainwash our kids. n/t

[Shuzbud 44]

11. Worry not.

Whether cooling or warming, it'll happen so slowly, we'll easily just get out of the way.

[Zhade]

38. There are no more snows of Kilamanjaro.

I think you have the timeframe wrong, sadly.

[lovuian]

13. if you want to see reality check out the US EPA sea level maps

they have already plotted sea level rise

I'm looking at Beachfront property in the future

[kimmerspixelated]

15. Get a lot of insurance.

[rodeodance]

16. Rare hummingbird spotted in Wisconsin

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070922/ap_on_sc/meandering_mango;_ylt=Asr5_rxm6xWkgkJSWwDydS5xieAA
Rare hummingbird spotted in Wisconsin

Fri Sep 21, 8:35 PM ET

BELOIT, Wis. - Birdwatchers are descending on a rural area near this southern Wisconsin community following the sighting of what is believed to be a green-breasted mango, a type of hummingbird commonly seen in parts of Mexico and Central America.
"It would be rare if this bird showed up on the Mexican border in Arizona," added birdwatcher Barbara Williams of nearby Rockford, Ill.

Bob Domagalski, a record keeper with the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, noted a splash of cinnamon color on the bird's throat Thursday and then caught a glimpse of a blue-green stripe running down its tiny breast as he sought to confirm the type of hummingbird it was.

"Once I saw that, I thought, 'That's it,'" he said.

Domagalski is to serve on the committee certifying the bird's appearance after pictures and reports have been compiled and analyzed.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

32. I was reminded of Global Warming when I first read that article also.

I'm not saying its being there is for sure due to global warming, but it's worth keeping track of all such things looking for patterns.

[Harper_is_Bush]

19. 1 meter is a VERY conservative estimate. It essentially isn't including increased flow from

the poles.

[Control-Z]

20. Ah, but war is more important.

'Experts say that protecting America's coastlines would run well into the billions and not all spots could be saved.'

[Independent_Liberal]

29. There has to be something we can do in 50 years. There just has to be.

I refuse to believe that this is irreversible.

[nam78_two]

33. Oops -sorry-I posted this without noticing that there was already a thread up on it

Sorry about that!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

40. No worries

The more who see this the better. It doesn't matter who posts it just so long as it's read.

:)

[Feron]

34. More likely...

the moneyed areas will get working levee and other protections whereas the poor people will be told that it is their fault for living in a flood prone area.

[Zhade]

39. Hopefully the poor will then kill those rich motherfuckers!

You know it's going to start happening as this world crumbles.