NASA: Rising sea levels more dangerous than thought

[Rob L 3,811]

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/08/27/nasa-rising-sea-levels-more-dangerous-than-thought/

The consequences of global sea level rise could be even scarier than the worst-case scenarios predicted by the dominant climate models, which don't fully account for the fast breakup of ice sheets and glaciers, NASA scientists said Aug. 26 at a press briefing.

What's more, sea level rise is already occurring. The open question, NASA scientists say, is just how quickly the seas will rise in the future.

Rising seas

The current warming of the seas and the associated expansion of their waters account for about one-third of sea level rise around the world. [Images of Melt: Earth's Vanishing Ice]

"When heat goes under the ocean, it expands just like mercury in a thermometer," Steve Nerem, lead scientist for NASA's Sea Level Change Team at the University of Colorado in Boulder, said in the press briefing.

The remaining two-thirds of sea level rise is occurring as a result of melting fromice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica and mountain glaciers, Nerem said.

Data collected by a cadre of NASA satellites — which change position in relation to one other as water and ice on the planet realign and affect gravity's tug — reveal that the ocean's mass is increasing. This increase translates to a global sea level rise of about 1.9 millimeters (0.07 inches) per year, Nerem said.

Unpredictable pace

But the speed of sea level rise is an open question.

"Ice sheets are contributing to sea level rise sooner, and more than anticipated," said Eric Rignot, a glaciologist at the University of California, Irvine, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

That's because people have never seen the collapse of a huge ice sheet and therefore don't have good models of the effects, Rignot said.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an international organization created by the United Nations that produces climate change models, has predicted that sea levels could rise as much as 21 feet in the next century if global warming continues unabated.

But even that worst-case scenario may not capture the risk, Rignot said. That's because the IPCC models only take into account temperature changes at the surface of glaciers, but not the rapid melting that occurs when glaciers calve and break up into the ocean, Rignot said.

In addition, much of glaciers' melting occurs at deep, undersea ice canyons. Warmer water is salter and therefore heavier. That means it sinks into the deeper layers of the ocean, and the contrast between this warm water and the undersea ice canyons contributes an unknown but substantial amount of sea level rise, said Josh Willis, an oceanographer at JPL in Pasadena, California.

When the massive Jakobshavn glacier in Greenland calved earlier this summer, it moved 4.6 square miles of ice in one day, Rignot said. [See Photos of Greenland's Melting Glaciers]

If the Jakobshavn glacier had melted completely, "it contains enough ice to raise global sea level by half a meter — just this one glacier in Greenland," Rignot said. If all the land ice on the planet were to melt, it would raise sea levels about 197 feet, he added.

Some of the melting that has already occurred is likely irreversible, and could take hundreds of years to reverse, Rignot said.

American impact

While global sea levels have risen about 2.75 inches over the past 22 years, the west coast of the United States has not seen much of a rise in ocean levels. That's largely because of a long-time-scale weather pattern called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, which is masking the global effect. That, however, could reverse in the coming years, Willis said.

"In the long run, we expect the sea levels on the west coast to catch up to global mean and even exceed the global mean," Willis said.

Florida is also particularly vulnerable to sea level rise because its porous soil allows more seawater intrusion than does the soil in other coastal areas, Willis said.

[TENBILLIONDOLLARS 216]

NASA: Living at the bottom of the sea floor less pleasant than previously believed.

New study projects larger than anticipated loss of life and property in a hypothetical submerged Miami. Insurers not believed to have adequate cash reserves to cover insured losses.

[Operator 1,927]

Just drill a bunch of really deep holes off shore so all the water has a place to go.

Problem solved!

[TENBILLIONDOLLARS 216]

Just like brain surgery.

[lostinblue 1,989]

which don't fully account for the fast breakup of ice sheets and glaciers, NASA scientists said

And these are the folks you warmers are relying on .

[TENBILLIONDOLLARS 216]

Gravity doesn't fully account for the speed at which a ball falls to the ground if thrown from a plane.

I guess that means all those gravity-believers have their heads up their arses.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It doesn't matter what the truth is on climate change, we're going to continue as we are until everyone suffocates, drowns or starves, whichever comes first.

[Operator 1,927]

Solution #2

Everyone leaves the door of the fridge open for 15 minutes every day.

Problem solved!

[lostinblue 1,989]

It doesn't matter what the truth is on climate change, we're going to continue as we are until everyone suffocates, drowns or starves, whichever comes first.

Take the blue pill .

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

A better solution would be to keep an open mind about what people are saying and not listen to corrupt politicians and media figures who don't want to implement new laws that damage their balance sheets.

Arms and oil baron Bush/Cheney led the 'free world' into a war for private gain. They didn't pay for it, everyone else did.

This is no different.

[Rob L 3,811]

The oddest part is I am impressed by Fox News Science page, it seems to be an independent division from Fox News or the Science news that makes it to the Front Page

[TENBILLIONDOLLARS 216]

It all comes down to the people.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Ice is melting in some areas, yet increasing in other areas. To think that humans play a huge part in climate change is probably self-aggrandizement, at best.

We're stuck in our own experiment," the expedition said. "We came to Antarctica to study how one of the biggest icebergs in the world has altered the system by trapping ice. We . . . are now ourselves trapped by ice surrounding our ship."

Turney said he hopes to continue the trip if an icebreaker can free the ship.

Meanwhile, climatologist Roy Spencer said he's sure researchers can find a reason that Arctic ice is melting while ice is growing in the Antarctic region, reports Real Clear Politics.

"I'm sure some researchers can find a possible explanation where humans are causing both Arctic ice melting and Antarctic ice growth, but I'm skeptical of scientists who blame every change in nature on human activities," Spencer said. "Nature routinely causes its own changes, without any help from us."

Turney says that he wants to excite the public about science, and that climate change is still a "remarkably solid" and "self-evident" theory.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/warming-expedition-stuck-ice/2013/12/31/id/544646/

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

A rationale that amounts to no more than "some places are cold, some places are warm" isn't terribly convincing.

In other news water is wet and if you add or subtract heat it will change its state. However if you drink all your water you won't have any to wash with.

[Dashinka 24,499]

A rationale that amounts to no more than "some places are cold, some places are warm" isn't terribly convincing.

In other news water is wet and if you add or subtract heat it will change its state. However if you drink all your water you won't have any to wash with.

And weather cannot be predicted accurately beyond the hour. Not sure I can really believe climatologists trying to predict weather out a year or more.

http://www.climatedepot.com/2015/08/06/a-new-record-pause-length-no-global-warming-for-18-years-7-months-temperature-standstill-extends-to-233-months/

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/obama-longest-serving-president-1850s-without-major-hurricane

Edited August 28, 2015 by Bill & Katya