Support NeoGAF

[Lime]

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/10-feet-of-global-sea-level-rise-now-inevitable?utm_source=mbfb

At least 10 feet of sea level rise is now guaranteed worldwide; it's all but inevitable, a done deal. An ice sheet two miles thick has collapsed in West Antarctica—glaciologists have been dreading this moment for decades, though in recent years, it was more of a question of when than if—and there is nothing that can stop it from melting now.

NASA scientists say so, glaciologists say so, researchers who've spent their entire careers studying the slow and increasingly inevitable melt of our planet's permanent ice stores say so. They say so in two new studies debuting this week; one in Science and one in Geophysical Research Letters. They are all saying we should begin getting comfortable with sea levels that lap up 10 feet higher on our shores.

Long before the collapse of West Antarctica's Thwaites ice sheet, an organization called Climate Central created this interactive map, which shows how various levels of sea level rise will impact the United States. Grimly and fortuitously, it goes up to 10 feet—the amount that is now locked-in, but by no means the minimum of sea level rise we can expect to experience thanks to climate change. Go ahead, plug your city in, and see what percent chance you have of being driven away by high waters.

For instance, 99.5 percent of the population of New Orleans, Louisiana, as if they haven't suffered enough, will again find themselves underwater when the seas rise 10 feet. Thirty percent of all of the homes in Florida will be submerged; that's 5.6 million people. Fort Lauderdale, for one, will be nearly below the waves. Only 9 percent of New York City will have to relocate in the face of rising tides, but then, that means 700,000 people will have to find new homes—twice as many as New Orleans.

Even if you don't live at or near sea level in one of those vulnerable areas, the crisis the rise will bring will impact you too; it will either cost heady sums to shore up the flood-walls and prepare the dikes, or chaos and misfortune will reign when a disaster—a hurricane, for instance—hits. Either way, rising seas are a hugely destabilizing force.

That degree of sea level rise may take decades yet—the Science study says it will take 200 years to melt the entire sheet, but other studies say the melt could be more rapid. It is driven by warmer waters, not warmer air; in West Antarctica, these great ice sheets are slowly warmed from below, then beaten apart by more ferocious winds—another feature of a climate-changed world, scientists surmise. And the risk is so much greater than 10 feet; the Greenland ice sheet and the other Antarctic stores hold 200 feet of sea level rise in their softening doomsday banks.

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/10-feet-of-global-sea-level-rise-now-inevitable?utm_source=mbfb

 

[Log4Girlz]

How come I can make a snow ball in winter then?

 

[Clefargle]

Let's get on this fucking yesterday

 

[YesNOnoNOYes]

noooo i dont want this

 

[Livingskeletons]

See you down in Arizona Bay

 

[commedieu]

Says who?

Gg Florida. It was only a matter of time.

 

[Dishwalla]

Goodbye Norfolk, it was nice knowing you.

 

[TheSecondSpitter]

 

[sphagnum]

Time to build domes.

 

[AlphaStriker]

The wall just got 10 feet higher.

 

[ggx2ac]

That degree of sea level rise may take decades yet—the Science study says it will take 200 years to melt the entire sheet, but other studies say the melt could be more rapid.

This is why climate change denialists won't care, they'll be dead before it ever happens.

 

[ponpo]

Sure thing, China.

Wonder what kind of news it will take to get countries to act more urgently.. Probably nothing.

 

[Bronx-Man]

Chinese hoax, don't fall for it. The wall will protect all of us.

 

[SamVimes]

That article is from 2014, so we either already knew it then or it's just sensationalist.

 

[Creaking]

"Politicians Discussing Climate Change"

 

[somecrazymember]

Its ok Trump will fix it with a wall

 

[DEAD RABBIT]

Doesn't look like anything to me.

 

[Apath]

So where is the ideal place to buy property? I want to buy myself a beachfront mansion to sit back and enjoy the collapse of everything.

 

[Tagyhag]

Holy shit, the San Francisco bay is fucked no matter what. How terrifying.

 

[Breads]

May 12, 2014 // 06:10 PM EST

Their map has me underwater. But then again so did Hurricane Matthew projections. Was there an update to this?

 

[dreamcastmaster]

It's OK, I don't live by the coast, and the coast just got closer so it wont take me so long to get there for a day on the beach.

 

[Subpar Spatula]

Sea levels will rise but pumps and other infrastructure will prevent these places mostly because of the wealth there. This isn't going to occur over night, guys.

 

[Lord Fagan]

 

[ameleco]

May 12, 2014 // 06:10 PM EST

Their map has me underwater. But then again so did Hurricane Matthew projections. Was there an update to this?

I dunno. I found a website about this. http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/maps

Seems a lot of the rise will be after 2150/60

 

[Hazmat]

It might be worth bolding the part of the article that says this will take 200 years. I mean, this is insanely bad news, but the change will happen gradually.

 

[Vermillion]

One way or another, we'll get a blue Florida.

I just hope no one struggles to relocate.

 

[Slayer-33]

Would it even be feasible to dig inland at all to create a diversionary channel for the seawater?

If done let's say all along the worlds coasts

 

[Brakke]

"their softening doomsday banks" is a really excellent phrase damn

put me on my ass

 

[KonradLaw]

Yeah, this sounds grim, but think about all the new homes/infrastucture that will have to be built further inland. The economy is going to explode!!!

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

Sure thing, China.

Wonder what kind of news it will take to get countries to act more urgently.. Probably nothing.

It's 200 years out according to the projection tool in the OP. That's not even politicians' children's children's problem. They don't give a fuck.

 

[Maxinas]

Sea levels will rise but pumps and other infrastructure will prevent these places mostly because of the wealth there. This isn't going to occur over night, guys.

Still no reason to ignore it though. The smallest thing can become a larger deal. It will only get worse from here, because the people in charge of the money and power clearly don't give two fucks.

 

[Slayer-33]

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2008/sep/04/cloud-seeding-ships-could-combat-climate-change

A more direct solution

 

[Piichan]

We need to throw a big-ass sponge into the sea.

 

[Subpar Spatula]

Still no reason to ignore it though. The smallest thing can become a larger deal. It will only get worse from here, because the people in charge of the money and power clearly don't give two fucks.

People aren't actually ignoring it. Climate change policies are a balancing act. You can't change business and industries over night. Investment into green, slowly adapt, and go on. This is occurring in countries around the world. Natural gas, coal, oil, etc. are still very much needed but they are slowly being eroded away. At this point governments know possibilities of what the unavoidable damage is going to be. We could change everything green tomorrow and that will still happen. The goal is to survive the unavoidable.

 

[Ashodin]

Let's get on this fucking yesterday

We literally can't do anything, and not enough people care.

 

[riotous]

I was just at the beach the other day. The sea level dropped several feet in a matter of hours revealing MORE land. Checkmate liberals

 

[EviLore]

Would it even be feasible to dig inland at all to create a diversionary channel for the seawater?

The average depth of the ocean is 12,100 ft. The volume of water in the ocean is 1,338,000,000 cubic kilometers.

...that's 110,579 cubic kilometers of water per foot of sea level. You'd need to dig a hole over a million cubic kilometers in volume.

 

[Lomax]

May 12, 2014 // 06:10 PM EST

Their map has me underwater. But then again so did Hurricane Matthew projections. Was there an update to this?

There's new evidence of a crack in the ice sheet:

http://gizmodo.com/huge-cracks-in-the-west-antarctic-ice-sheet-may-signal-1789427855

But honestly, when it comes to climate change, a gradual increase in sea levels over a couple hundred years is probably the least of our concerns.

 

[ggx2ac]

Sea levels will rise but pumps and other infrastructure will prevent these places mostly because of the wealth there. This isn't going to occur over night, guys.

Dutch engineers will be highly sought after. lol

200 years of engineering to prevent the coastal cities from being flooded.

 

[Ran rp]

i shouldn't have kids

 

[John Kowalski]

That's ~3 meters for my yurop bros.

 

[DeadlyParasite]

People in 200 years are going to be bitter as fuck about this era in history. We deserve all the scorn.

 

[Cow Mengde]

The average depth of the ocean is 12,100 ft. The volume of water in the ocean is 1,338,000,000 cubic kilometers.

...that's 110,579 cubic kilometers of water per foot of sea level. You'd need to dig a hole over a million cubic kilometers in volume.

America is already digging the hole.

 

[Oblivion]

I live in a valley, therefore the mountains will protect me.

SFV stays winning.

 

[HTupolev]

Would it even be feasible to dig inland at all to create a diversionary channel for the seawater?

If done let's say all along the worlds coasts

You'd need to move a cartoonish amount of water to make a difference. If the waters of the vast and deep Lake Baikal were to suddenly vanish, and the lake was refilled with water from our oceans, global sea levels would drop by less than 2cm.

 

[SpaceCadetKeon]

I'll be long dead by then, and this still fucking terrifies me.

 

[StayDead]

Guess it's about time to enact the governments secret plan.

Gather up all the sea water and use rockets to send it flying into the sun!

People in 200 years are going to be bitter as fuck about this era in history. We deserve all the scorn.

Just as we're bitter about the 200 years before us. People honestly don't have the ability to blame themselves for anything and always leave problems to be someone elses to deal with. Especially politicians. Climate change or no climate change people in 200 years would still look back on us with scorn.

Look at Brexit. That is going to destroy the UK in it's current form and our government don't give a damn.

 

[studyguy]

Oh it's currently 15min to the beach, turns into 5min. My work becomes almost beach front property. Great.

 

[Haly]

Sure thing, China.

Wonder what kind of news it will take to get countries to act more urgently.. Probably nothing.

Well I think the GOP will notice when Florida is submerged and they lose, um, 29 electorate votes. Plus the 8 from Louisiana.

 

[Fliesen]

The average depth of the ocean is 12,100 ft. The volume of water in the ocean is 1,338,000,000 cubic kilometers.

...that's 110,579 cubic kilometers of water per foot of sea level. You'd need to dig a hole over a million cubic kilometers in volume.

So everyone go grab you're shovels, there's work to be done!