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'Sinking' Pacific nation is getting bigger: study
- Gys 9y ago'It found factors such as wave patterns and sediment dumped by storms could offset the erosion caused by rising water levels.'
- SlowBro 9y agoI found the rising oceans story with regard to this island hard to believe when I read somewhere that a neighboring island’s shores are doing just fine. Rising oceans ought to affect neighbors as well. And further, here we read that the mass is growing. My guess is the island’s foundations are sinking. Don’t label me as a climate change denier; I’m too cautious for that. But I am quite suspicious of the narriative as regards this island chain. I have a special place in my heart for the island: My first domain was a .tv :-)
- madaxe_again 9y agoSea level rise isn’t uniform, even on a relatively local scale - while the total volume does inevitably increase, variations such as currents, prevailing winds, standing barometric anomalies and even gravitational variations (thicker crust = shallower ocean) influence relative rise. Here’s a picture illustrating this: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/coasts/sealevel/MSL_Map_MERGED_Global_IB_RWT_NoGIA_Adjust.png http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/coasts/sealevel/MSL_Map_MERGED_G...
- jackhack 9y agoWhen an explanation for global cooling/warming/change puts one at odds with Archimedes, I think it's time to reconsider.
- madaxe_again 9y agoI'm not sure what you're getting at? I'm not explaining climate change, I'm simply explaining that sea level rise isn't uniform. The total volume of water increases both due to melting of on-land ice and thermal expansion of the water column - however it is the case that the resulting increased volume is not evenly distributed, due to the factors I mention above. If you're getting at "crustal thickness" - there are areas of thin or less dense crust where the value of g is lower by a tiny amount - but this tiny amount is enough to cause less water to gather in that area over the vast depth of the water column, as it's essentially uphill to there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_of_Earth#Local_topography_and_geology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_of_Earth#Local_topogra... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_anomalies_of_Britain_and_Ireland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_anomalies_of_Britain_a...
- jschwartzi 9y agoIn other words the ocean is on a scale which makes it much more complicated than your bathtub.
- lurquer 9y agoAny contiguous fluid surrounding a solid body will form a sphere around the system's center of gravity. Currents, tides, and temperature may cause some deformities, but the variations on the force of gravity due to the the solid earth's nonuniformity in shape and density won't effect the 'level' of the sphere of water that surrounds the center of gravity.
- filleokus 9y agoI'm not really informed about the topic, but I noticed that the Bothnian Bay (the northern bay of the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden) is coloured red. The seabed underneath the Botnia Bay has been rising since the end of the ice age (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bothnian_Bay#Isostatic_rebound https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bothnian_Bay#Isostatic_rebound). Has this not been corrected for in the map (which would explain the red colour), or is it simply a coincidence, and the absolute water level has been rising there as well?
- yorwba 9y agoI'm not sure what kind of "correction" you'd expect? A rising sea floor should in general be associated with a (small) rise in water levels as well, although the depth would still fall. This is due to the gravity of the rocks attracting the water.