4 ms·

Can somebody explain to me what the big problem of sea levels rising is. Sure, at that rate, or even at that 100 times that rate, at some point in the not-so-c

Can somebody explain to me what the big problem of sea levels rising is. Sure, at that rate, or even at that 100 times that rate, at some point in the not-so-close future the coastline will move inward significantly. Beach properties will become diving attractions. I don't think I care. Tell my why I should care.

chipperyman573 7y ago
Sea levels are an easy way to measure the effects of global warming. Since the ocean has so much water, massive changes need to happen for it to rise even a little (for example 2.2mm).
- vixen99 7y ago
  Moreover Antarctica has an estimated ice volume of around 26.5 million cubic kilometers (most recent estimation - I believe). I estimate that cumulative melting since 1992 (2325 gt) has reduced that volume by 0.001%. Info & data at http://imbie.org/news/publications/ http://imbie.org/news/publications/ and http://imbie.org/data-downloads/ http://imbie.org/data-downloads/
reimertz 7y ago
If you only have yourself to take into consideration, I assume you have the luxury to relocate and have the economic bandwidth to do so. But I challenge you to widen your viewpoint; there are so many people out in the world where 1cm would mean becoming environmental refugees. If you don’t care about that, there isn’t much I can do. Finally, I want to point out what that means; you lack empathy for those people.
- gridlockd 7y ago
  > But I challenge you to widen your viewpoint; there are so many people out in the world where 1cm would mean becoming environmental refugees. See, I don't believe that to be true. Sea levels already rose 7.5cm in the past 30 years, where are all these "sea level refugees" specifically? > Finally, I want to point out what that means; you lack of empathy for those people. Of course I don't have empathy for people that I do not believe exist. I also have trouble developing empathy for hypothetical people that may have to migrate in 100 years time. People are going to have/want to migrate, no matter what. So did my recent ancestors, as well as my ancient ancestors. I don't see that as a big problem, I don't believe in ethnostates of any kind. Refugees welcome!
phaemon 7y ago
Well, it seems folk weren't impressed with the technical aspects of your question, but I'll give it a shot and ignore the moral aspect entirely. What would happen at "100 times that rate"? That's about 10cm a month, or four inches a month for Americans. Firstly, the coast does not slope back at a constant angle from the sea, so you can't just move uphill a few yards and think that everything will be fine. Even if you could, try it now: try moving to an area that's, say, 20 yards uphill from where you are. Today. Do you see the immediate problem? But let's say you're already a fair height above sea level, so you've got a few years, and you live in a coastal town. What is going to happen? Well, after a few months, you're going to start having issues with high tides. Sewers will flood, so you'll literally have a river of shite flowing in the streets below. The piers down at the harbour will become dangerous at high tide. Breakwaters will become ineffective. Warehouses will flood. You've probably got a coastal road out of the town. With the higher tides, you've got increased erosion, so after a particularly bad storm, there's a major landslip, and you lose not only the road but the rail link out as well. Goods can't get in or out of your town now. The higher parts of the town are now islands, and you don't have a functional slipway so it's difficult to even use boats. The shape of the coastline is now in constant flux; it changes with every tide as mud and sand gets sloshed around, which means that tides are completely unpredictable. Sometimes you get a massive tide as more water is funnelled in, and other times it's barely noticeable as mudbanks cut off whole areas of water. Now, all this might even be manageable, if you have access to plenty of money to rebuild, but who is going to rebuild when they'll have to do it all again next year? And you're not going to get help from anywhere else, because this is happening to every coastal town all at once. Of course, this is based on your extreme case of 10cm per month, so the real question is "at what stage does this become unmanageable?". Is it 10cm per year? 1cm per year over the course of a decade? Somewhere inbetween?
- Fjolsvith 7y ago
  At the current rate of melt, how long is it until Greenland is out of ice and we don't have to worry about it contributing 1.1mm of sea level rise a month?
  - phaemon 7y ago

chipperyman573 7y ago

Sea levels are an easy way to measure the effects of global warming. Since the ocean has so much water, massive changes need to happen for it to rise even a little (for example 2.2mm).

vixen99 7y ago
Moreover Antarctica has an estimated ice volume of around 26.5 million cubic kilometers (most recent estimation - I believe). I estimate that cumulative melting since 1992 (2325 gt) has reduced that volume by 0.001%. Info & data at http://imbie.org/news/publications/ http://imbie.org/news/publications/ and http://imbie.org/data-downloads/ http://imbie.org/data-downloads/

reimertz 7y ago

If you only have yourself to take into consideration, I assume you have the luxury to relocate and have the economic bandwidth to do so. But I challenge you to widen your viewpoint; there are so many people out in the world where 1cm would mean becoming environmental refugees. If you don’t care about that, there isn’t much I can do. Finally, I want to point out what that means; you lack empathy for those people.

gridlockd 7y ago
> But I challenge you to widen your viewpoint; there are so many people out in the world where 1cm would mean becoming environmental refugees. See, I don't believe that to be true. Sea levels already rose 7.5cm in the past 30 years, where are all these "sea level refugees" specifically? > Finally, I want to point out what that means; you lack of empathy for those people. Of course I don't have empathy for people that I do not believe exist. I also have trouble developing empathy for hypothetical people that may have to migrate in 100 years time. People are going to have/want to migrate, no matter what. So did my recent ancestors, as well as my ancient ancestors. I don't see that as a big problem, I don't believe in ethnostates of any kind. Refugees welcome!

phaemon 7y ago

Well, it seems folk weren't impressed with the technical aspects of your question, but I'll give it a shot and ignore the moral aspect entirely. What would happen at "100 times that rate"? That's about 10cm a month, or four inches a month for Americans. Firstly, the coast does not slope back at a constant angle from the sea, so you can't just move uphill a few yards and think that everything will be fine. Even if you could, try it now: try moving to an area that's, say, 20 yards uphill from where you are. Today. Do you see the immediate problem? But let's say you're already a fair height above sea level, so you've got a few years, and you live in a coastal town. What is going to happen? Well, after a few months, you're going to start having issues with high tides. Sewers will flood, so you'll literally have a river of shite flowing in the streets below. The piers down at the harbour will become dangerous at high tide. Breakwaters will become ineffective. Warehouses will flood. You've probably got a coastal road out of the town. With the higher tides, you've got increased erosion, so after a particularly bad storm, there's a major landslip, and you lose not only the road but the rail link out as well. Goods can't get in or out of your town now. The higher parts of the town are now islands, and you don't have a functional slipway so it's difficult to even use boats. The shape of the coastline is now in constant flux; it changes with every tide as mud and sand gets sloshed around, which means that tides are completely unpredictable. Sometimes you get a massive tide as more water is funnelled in, and other times it's barely noticeable as mudbanks cut off whole areas of water. Now, all this might even be manageable, if you have access to plenty of money to rebuild, but who is going to rebuild when they'll have to do it all again next year? And you're not going to get help from anywhere else, because this is happening to every coastal town all at once. Of course, this is based on your extreme case of 10cm per month, so the real question is "at what stage does this become unmanageable?". Is it 10cm per year? 1cm per year over the course of a decade? Somewhere inbetween?

Fjolsvith 7y ago
At the current rate of melt, how long is it until Greenland is out of ice and we don't have to worry about it contributing 1.1mm of sea level rise a month?
- phaemon 7y ago