<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Rising sea salinates India’s Ganges]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by Billhook http://www.grist.org/article/Salt-on-their-wounds/ Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:03:38 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/Salt-on-their-wounds/1 WAIS poses a far higher threat

The ongoing destabilization of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet threatens far greater additional inundation "in the coming decades & centuries", if we fail to recover sufficient airborne GHGs to achieve global cooling.

As reported here : http://www.livescience.com/environment/090205-more-sea-level-rise.html

The time scale of such a recovery project implies that we probably cannot avoid the loss of much of the best of the world's farmland, plus our coastal cities and docks.

The foreseeable consequent disruption of our capacity to trade, manufacture and organize complex operations implies that we now face a declining window of opportunity for getting that recovery program under way.

The very possibility of doing so rests, of course, on achieving a Treaty of the Atmospheric Commons rather then sliding into mere "devil take the hindermost" confusion & strife.

Regards,

Billhook

]]> WAIS poses a far higher threat

The ongoing destabilization of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet threatens far greater additional inundation "in the coming decades & centuries", if we fail to recover sufficient airborne GHGs to achieve global cooling.

As reported here : http://www.livescience.com/environment/090205-more-sea-level-rise.html

The time scale of such a recovery project implies that we probably cannot avoid the loss of much of the best of the world's farmland, plus our coastal cities and docks.

The foreseeable consequent disruption of our capacity to trade, manufacture and organize complex operations implies that we now face a declining window of opportunity for getting that recovery program under way.

The very possibility of doing so rests, of course, on achieving a Treaty of the Atmospheric Commons rather then sliding into mere "devil take the hindermost" confusion & strife.

Regards,

Billhook

]]> Comment #2 by Russ http://www.grist.org/article/Salt-on-their-wounds/ Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:44:34 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/Salt-on-their-wounds/2 billhook

Joe just put up an in-depth post this morning on the WAIS over at his blog Climate Progress (linked above).

(It'll probably be reposted here in a day or so.)

]]> billhook

Joe just put up an in-depth post this morning on the WAIS over at his blog Climate Progress (linked above).

(It'll probably be reposted here in a day or so.)

]]> Comment #3 by Billhook http://www.grist.org/article/Salt-on-their-wounds/ Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:48:38 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/Salt-on-their-wounds/3 WAIS outlook

Russ -

thanks for the info - I'll have a look.

Regards,

Billhook

]]> WAIS outlook

Russ -

thanks for the info - I'll have a look.

Regards,

Billhook

]]> Comment #4 by amazingdrx http://www.grist.org/article/Salt-on-their-wounds/ Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:10:48 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/Salt-on-their-wounds/4 Ocean algae farming

It's one way to feed rampant unplanned population growth.  "Soylent green" will most likely be made of algae, not people.

Algae grows in salt water, that's the key.

I guess Dean Kamen needs to work on this next, after his water invention.

Brewers yeast, that can grow on algae provides all the amino acids.  So there you have it, the future of humanity given unplanned reproduction and a lack of reproductive rights for women.

A life of "green goo" as opposed to the nano-tech apocalypse of "gray goo".  The ultimate quantity over quality of life trend.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

]]> Ocean algae farming

It's one way to feed rampant unplanned population growth.  "Soylent green" will most likely be made of algae, not people.

Algae grows in salt water, that's the key.

I guess Dean Kamen needs to work on this next, after his water invention.

Brewers yeast, that can grow on algae provides all the amino acids.  So there you have it, the future of humanity given unplanned reproduction and a lack of reproductive rights for women.

A life of "green goo" as opposed to the nano-tech apocalypse of "gray goo".  The ultimate quantity over quality of life trend.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

]]> Comment #5 by thoughtfulman http://www.grist.org/article/Salt-on-their-wounds/ Fri, 06 Feb 2009 02:41:53 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/Salt-on-their-wounds/5 interesting story

Let's look at the facts.  At the end of the last ice age 20,000 year ago, sea level was about 300 feet lower than present.  This exposed the "land bridge" of the Aleutian Islands which allowed primitive humans to walk to North America from Asia.  For about 10,000 years the global temperature rose steadily, a total of about 14°F.  For the next 10,000 years, the temperature has been relatively stable, notwithstanding some minor oscillations (Roman warm period, Medieval warm period, Little Ice Age, etc.)  Due to the long-term melting of snow and ice, sea level has risen steadily for 20,000 years, at an average of  about 4.6 mm per year.  If the average annual of rise is currently 2-3 mm per year (as the article states), then it is somewhat below average, and clearly has not been accelerate4d by man's activities or emissions.

If the average rate of sea level rise over the last 20,000 years continues, at 4.6 mm per year, by 2100 the level will be up 419 mm or about 16" naturally.  This rate will likely continue until the onset of the global temperature decline preceeding the next ice ige.

Incidentally, salt water intrusion under seaside land, displacing fresh groundwater, is common.  It is caused by excessive withdrawal of the groundwater, which both lowers the overlying land and also creates low pressure areas which causes the sea water to migrate underground to that area.

]]> interesting story

Let's look at the facts.  At the end of the last ice age 20,000 year ago, sea level was about 300 feet lower than present.  This exposed the "land bridge" of the Aleutian Islands which allowed primitive humans to walk to North America from Asia.  For about 10,000 years the global temperature rose steadily, a total of about 14°F.  For the next 10,000 years, the temperature has been relatively stable, notwithstanding some minor oscillations (Roman warm period, Medieval warm period, Little Ice Age, etc.)  Due to the long-term melting of snow and ice, sea level has risen steadily for 20,000 years, at an average of  about 4.6 mm per year.  If the average annual of rise is currently 2-3 mm per year (as the article states), then it is somewhat below average, and clearly has not been accelerate4d by man's activities or emissions.

If the average rate of sea level rise over the last 20,000 years continues, at 4.6 mm per year, by 2100 the level will be up 419 mm or about 16" naturally.  This rate will likely continue until the onset of the global temperature decline preceeding the next ice ige.

Incidentally, salt water intrusion under seaside land, displacing fresh groundwater, is common.  It is caused by excessive withdrawal of the groundwater, which both lowers the overlying land and also creates low pressure areas which causes the sea water to migrate underground to that area.

]]> Comment #6 by Billhook http://www.grist.org/article/Salt-on-their-wounds/ Fri, 06 Feb 2009 07:36:51 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/Salt-on-their-wounds/6 SLR - why no integrated threat assessment ?

thoughtfulman - your assumption that SLR has been a constant 4.6mm/yr for the last 20,000 years is, of course, groundless.
A rather brief survey of the literature will confirm this for you.

Your conclusion, that our pollution thus cannot be causing the current acceleration of SLR reflects a different but equally elementary error, which I would hope the average high school science teacher could explain for you.
.

Joe - I wish you could say when we're likely to see an integrated forecast of SLR within present adults' lifetimes, that is, by say 2050.
By integrated I mean one that includes thermal expansion plus sundry glaciers' melt plus Greenland Ice Cap melt (as the Arctic Ice Cap is lost) plus WAIS melt plus the latter's consequences.

In total these could eventually yield perhaps 17 metres SLR under BAU (roughly 56 feet). But there needs to be a credible assessment of the likely all-sources rise by mid-century under both BAU and war-footing mitigation [WFM}, if this threat is going to properly assist the climate-treaty's negotiation.

Is there someone you could nudge ?

Regards,

Billhook


]]> SLR - why no integrated threat assessment ?

thoughtfulman - your assumption that SLR has been a constant 4.6mm/yr for the last 20,000 years is, of course, groundless.
A rather brief survey of the literature will confirm this for you.

Your conclusion, that our pollution thus cannot be causing the current acceleration of SLR reflects a different but equally elementary error, which I would hope the average high school science teacher could explain for you.
.

Joe - I wish you could say when we're likely to see an integrated forecast of SLR within present adults' lifetimes, that is, by say 2050.
By integrated I mean one that includes thermal expansion plus sundry glaciers' melt plus Greenland Ice Cap melt (as the Arctic Ice Cap is lost) plus WAIS melt plus the latter's consequences.

In total these could eventually yield perhaps 17 metres SLR under BAU (roughly 56 feet). But there needs to be a credible assessment of the likely all-sources rise by mid-century under both BAU and war-footing mitigation [WFM}, if this threat is going to properly assist the climate-treaty's negotiation.

Is there someone you could nudge ?

Regards,

Billhook


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