Posted on 03/22/2012 8:47:03 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
Scientists looked back in time – in the geologic record – to see the future
Even if humankind manages to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit)–as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommends–future generations will likely have to deal with a completely different world.
One with sea levels 40 to 70 feet higher than at present, according to research results published this week in the journal Geology.
The scientists, led by Kenneth Miller of Rutgers University, reached their conclusion by studying rock and soil cores taken in Virginia, New Zealand and the Eniwetok Atoll in the north Pacific Ocean.
They looked at the late Pliocene epoch, 2.7 million to 3.2 million years ago, the last time the carbon dioxide level in Earth’s atmosphere was at its current level and when atmospheric temperatures were 2 C higher than they are now.
“The difference in water volume released is the equivalent of melting the entire Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheets, as well as some of the marine margin of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet,” said H. Richard Lane, program director in the National Science Foundation‘s Division of Earth Sciences, which funded the work.
“Such a rise of the modern oceans would swamp the world’s coasts and affect as much as 70 percent of the world’s population.”
“You don’t need to sell your beach real estate yet, because melting of these large ice sheets will take centuries to millennia,” Miller said.
(Excerpt) Read more at redorbit.com ...
What was faster then a short block Chevy when the city of Atlantis went below sea level?
LMAO!
How come the only mention of possibilities with liberals is in the direction of their agenda...
However, the actual shoreline doesn’t change much because, as the ice melts, the land underneath rises and brings the shoreline up as well. Effectively, the shape of the ocean bed changes and the shoreline stays pretty much where it ever was.
A man after my own heart! I have a 77 Ford F-250 FWD truck that gets an honest 10 MPG. I may just decide to take it out this weekend and tear up lots of BLM land with it.
Not if the water keeps draining off the edge of the world.
About a year or two Ted Danson confessed that he “exaggerated” about the oceans dying in 20 years when he made the claim in the mid-1980s. He said it was necessary to stir people to action.
The Green Scare is less grounded in fact than the so-called hysteria of the “Red Scare”. And its the same 2 sides still going against each other.
Sure, it’s possible, since sea levels have been both much higher and much lower in the past. Still, we’re in an interglacial period, and it’s just as possible that the ice sheets could start growing again and the sea levels would drop, opening up coastal areas that have been underwater for millenia.
2 Peter 3:7-12
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
I got you beat. My '69 Caddy Ragtop gets 5 MPG with the air on. I have an old Motor Trend comparing the '69 DeVille, Imperial and Benz 4.5. A traveling salesman is quoted saying he loves the Caddy, but he has to fill it up twice a day to get around to his clients. About 15 years ago I did the same thing when I was in sales and low and behold, the dude was right. I had to stop twice that day to get around. LOL.
In the future, we all die.
| Bibliographic Entry | Result (w/surrounding text) |
Standardized Result |
|---|---|---|
| New Book of Popular Science. Volume 2. Danbury: Grolier, 1996: 261. | "The massive Greenland ice cap averages 2.3 kilometers in thickness." | 2.3 km (average) |
| New Encyclopedia Britannica. Volume 5. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998: 472. | "It extends 1,570 miles (2,530 km) north-south, has a maximum width of 680 miles (1,094 km) near its northern margin, and has an average thickness of about 5,000 feet (1,500 m)." | 1.5 km (average) |
| Lambert, David. Field Guide To Geology. New York: Diagram Visual, 1988: 154. | "Most of Greenland lies beneath an ice cap twice the size of Australia and up to 14,000 ft (4,300 m) thick." | 4.3 km (thickest) |
| Dixon, Dougal. Macmillan Encyclopedia of Science. Volume 3. New York: Macmillan, 1977: 38. | "Toward its center, the Greenland ice-sheet has been shown to be 3,000 m (9,840 ft.) thick." | 3 km (thickest) |
| Climbing Into The Greenland Ice Cap. National Tourism Board of Greenland. | "At its thickest points the ice has a depth of more than 3 km to the bedrock." | 3 km (thickest) |
There isn't even agreement on how much ice is in Greenland. How can anyone estimate sea level rise?
Glaciers are growing not shrinking. The only way they would rise is if we had another iceage melt off.
Come back and see me when it's "...WILL rise as much as 70 feet..." and we can talk about it. "Could" just doesn't cut it. I COULD hit the Powerball this weekend but I'm not counting on it.
I’m not worried.
Its always been said aliens will come to Earth just to steal all our water.
I thought it was to steal our air.
"COMMENCE OPERATION 'VACU-SUCK'"
I think I’ve seen the calculations, which are probably close to correct, which suggest that if there all the worlds ice sheets melted the total sea level rise would be in the 200-300 ft range. Really, the sea level rise at the end of the ice age was on the same order of magnitude - so there’s nothing too unbelievable about that number.
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