SEA LEVEL RISE 1. Definition: 1.1 Sea level: - Is the level of the ocean's surface, especially the level halfway between mean high and low tide - Be used as a standard in reckoning land elevation or sea depths. 1.2 Sea level rises: - Happens when the mean high tide level increases year after year 2. Reasons: Sea levels are rising today not only because of thermal expansion but also melting of glaciers and polar ice caps. 2.1Thermal expansion As seawater becomes warmer it expands. Heat in the upper
Rising sea levels as a result of global warming is now a widely publicised concern as strategies are currently being implemented to respond to them. However, global sea-levels have fluctuated many hundreds of metres either way of the present day sea-level and this essay proposes to examine mechanisms of sea-level change past and present and the its geomorphological impacts on the coasts. Before one can explain the causes of sea-level change, it is important to define the different types of sea-level
than ten meters above sea level.4 Due to the fact that coastal regions tend to be so heavily populated, inundation events can be catastrophic.3 1.1 General Causes of Inundation There are three main causes of inundation.2 Storm surges are waves that are larger than usual, which occur during storm events such as tropical cyclones due to strong onshore winds, low barometric pressures and increased wave height. Tsunami are “large waves generated by an abrupt disturbance of the sea surface” 1, which can
Since 1900, analysis of a global network of tide gauge records reveals that global sea level has been rising at the rate of about 0.6 inches per decade. After 1992, satellite altimeters indicate that the rate of rise has increased to 1.2 inches per decade, which becomes the largest rate over the last 2000 years. According to NOAA scientists, continued sea level rise and land subsidence will lead to severe consequences such as massive storm surges and frequent tidal floods. Therefore, researches conducted
"On a recent afternoon, Scott McKenzie watched torrential rains and a murky tide swallow the street outside his dog-grooming salon. Within minutes, much of this stretch of chic South Beach was flooded ankle-deep in a fetid mix of rain and sea. “Welcome to the new Venice,” McKenzie joked as salt water surged from the sewers." ----- Michael J. Mishak, Associated Press June 7, 2014 at 4:24 PM EDT According to the World Bank Development Report 2013 there has been an increase in global surface
up? But if the sea continues to rise and we don’t prepare for it, our city could take massive damage from flooding. Scott K. Johnson, who has a master’s in Hydrogeology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says “While rising sea levels do threaten to simply inundate some areas around the harbor, they also limit the effectiveness of drainage systems, which function based on the lower elevation of ocean water.” This issue isn’t something easily fixed unfortunately. The seas are rising because
the early 21st Century. All of the low lying cities like Miami, New Orleans, London, and Paris are under hundreds of feet of water. The ice locked in the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica has melted away, dumping most of our freshwater into the seas. Much of our freshwater supply and farmland is not contaminated or swallowed by the rising oceans since the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melted. How could we as people prevent this massive disaster that the world has never been experienced
The Effects of Global Warming on Wetlands Introduction Wetlands are highly productive ecosystems. Wetlands include marshes, estuaries, bogs, fens, swamps, deltas, shallow seas, and floodplains. Wetland habitats support a vast range of plant and animal life, and serve a variety of important functions, which include water regime regulation, flood control, erosion control, nursery areas for fishes, fish production, recreation, plant production, aesthetic enjoyment, and wildlife habitat. Wetlands
rising sea levels. Due to the issue that a majority of the mainland in Holland is well below sea level, the Dutch government has implemented necessary plans to revise the existing costal security program to protect the country from wide scale flooding and to ensure the security of the major cities and historic sites found throughout Holland. Before the twentieth century a majority of Holland was covered in marsh and bog lands. At that time the land was approximately 6.5 feet above sea level, although
growing due to the threat of climate change. Climate Change and Sea Level Rise While it is hard to directly connect Hurricane Sandy to global warming, it is clear that warmer waters and increased sea level contributed to the severity of the storm. Higher sea levels increase the chance that hurricane winds will bring more water on land and storm surges that reach further inland. The Atlantic region is already experiencing sea level rise, and globally this trend is expected to continue. Ocean temperatures
middle of paper ... ...st continuous rate, showing no signs of slacking. With the continuous rise in global temperature sea levels are predicted to continue to rise at an alarming rate, unless measures are put in place to reduce the rise in climate change. The picture above shows areas which are red in the UK and northern Europe which would be completely underwater if sea levels were to rise by five meters. It is clearly seen in the picture that a lot of coastal areas would be significantly affected
. Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is the 208-foot tall landmark was just hauled more than a quarter-mile back from its former perch, where it was threatened by the encroaching sea. Coastal erosion chewed away about 1,300 feet of beach, bringing the waves to within 150 feet of the 4,800-ton sentinel. When the light was erected in 1870, it stood about 1,500 feet back from the waves. The lighthouse, on the Outer Banks, North Carolina's long barrier beach, was built to warn ships from waters called "the graveyard
Memorial Medical Center was situated “three feet below sea level, which is on one of the low points in the bowl in New Orleans (Fink, Sheri, 2009).” This hospital served as a “shelter whenever hurricanes threatened: employees would bring their families and pets, as well as coolers packed with food (Fink, Sheri, 2009).” Having 2,000 people taking shelter in this hospital on top of 200 patients, and over 600 workers in one place during a category 5 hurricane, ran a huge risk. This was not something
gradually wears away the rock particles of the earth's surface, transporting them to another location. There are many types of processes that cause erosion at Muriwai such as wave erosion, wind erosion and wave refraction. Thousands of years ago when sea levels dropped over years at the Southern end of Muriwai, the sedimentary rock and sandstone was exposed to the air. Rock from volcanic activity mixed with the sedimentary rock; this is called Breccia -- a mixture of all rock. An example of this is at
The Discovery of Paralititan Stomeri - A Giant Sauropod In the scientific article “A giant sauropod dinosaur from an upper Cretaceous mangrove deposit in Egypt,” by Joshua Smith, Matthew Lamanna, Kenneth Lacovara, and Peter Dodson it is indicated that a giant sauropod named Paralititan Stomeri was discovered in a desert area in western Egypt in 2001. The skeleton was dated back to ninety to one hundred million years ago, which is the late Cretaceous period. Paralititan is a sauropod, which is
rain and sea. “Welcome to the new Venice,” McKenzie joked as salt water surged from the sewers." ----- Michael J. Mishak, Associated Press June 7, 2014 at 4:24 PM EDT In a world divided by war, it is easy to overlook problems that affect all of mankind. The dramatic rise in ocean levels worldwide constitutes just that sort of problem. Although the fundamental problem of global warming has been given airtime and plenty of written-media coverage, the problem of rising sea levels seems to have
freshwater from the glaciers would run eventually to the sea, causing sea levels to rise, and also reducing the levels of salt found in the sea. This is in fact disastrous for thermohaline circulation, which carries warm currents to Svalbard from The Gulf Stream, and takes cold water back around to e warmed again. The cold water travels back along the surface of the ocean bed around America, because it has sunk near Svalbard. It sinks due to the levels of salt here. The addition of salt makes the water
the earth can cycle them,” Adam explained. Too great a concentration of greenhouse gases can have dramatic effects on climate and significant repercussions on the world around us. Rising global temperatures, he explained, are expected to raise sea levels and could alter forests, crop yields and water supply. I was surprised at how knowledgeable Adam was on the topic. While I also believe that global warming is a potential danger and disregard skeptics theories, my understanding of the topic
Sabrina King Ms. Goldberg Freshman Rhetoric 16 October 2014 A Waterless Earth What do you think of when you hear the term “dirty water”? The term “dirty water” is primarily associated with developing countries, Africa being an example.. As of now, us Americans can assume that since we are a first world country, we will always have a basic necessity- clean water. Imagine going a day without water. Not bathing, not brushing your teeth and drinking little clean water. You wouldn 't survive the day
different levels of carbon dioxide. The burning of fossil fuels has increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by a staggering twenty- five percent. It has also been implied that fossil fuels are associated with increased levels of nitrous oxide and methane, although they are not the main sources of these gasses. Carbon dioxide is a gas that traps heat in our atmosphere, and helps keep the planet at livable temperature. However, climatologists are now predicting that if the levels of