Posted on 06/25/2012 8:46:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Atlantic Ocean is rising at an annual rate three times faster than the global average since 1990, according to the US Geological Survey.
Sea levels are rising much faster along the U.S. East Coast than they are around the globe, putting one of the world's most costly coasts in danger of flooding, government researchers report.
U.S. Geological Survey scientists call the 600-mile (965-kilometer) swath a "hot spot" for climbing sea levels caused by global warming. Along the region, the Atlantic Ocean is rising at an annual rate three times to four times faster than the global average since 1990, according to the study published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
It's not just a faster rate, but at a faster pace, like a car on a highway "jamming on the accelerator," said the study's lead author, Asbury Sallenger Jr., an oceanographer at the agency. He looked at sea levels starting in 1950, and noticed a change beginning in 1990.
Since then, sea levels have gone up globally about 2 inches (5 centimeters). But in Norfolk, Virginia, where officials are scrambling to fight more frequent flooding, sea level has jumped a total of 4.8 inches (12.19 centimeters), the research showed. For Philadelphia, levels went up 3.7 inches (9.4 centimeters), and in New York City, it was 2.8 inches (7.11 centimeters).
Climate change pushes up sea levels by melting ice sheets in Greenland and west Antarctica, and because warmer water expands.
Computer models long have projected higher levels along parts of the East Coast because of changes in ocean currents from global warming, but this is the first study to show that's already happened.
By 2100, scientists and computer models estimate that sea levels globally could rise as much as 3.3 feet (1.01 meters).
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
I call BS
How can it rise more in one place than another?
Maybe the Eastern coast is sinking?
I agree, water is pulled down to the center of the earth at a constant rate, how could they be rising in one place and not the other. Maybe you’re right, maybe we’re sinking.
If this is factual, doesn’t physics dictate that the eastern seaboard must be subsiding rather than sea levels increasing? Wouldn’t sea levels have to increase everywhere at relatively the same rate?
How does that work?
RE: I call BS
You mean the U.S. Geological Survey scientists are lying?
Seems to me that someone is unclear on the meaning of ‘sea level’.
Good observation, how can sea level be different in different places? Somebody’s hitting the bong a little too hard. maybe these geniuses are measuring the level at high tide every time.
CS is BS
This just strikes me as being utterly impossible. Except for the impact of gravitational tide levels and winds, I would think that sea level balances out across the world and no particular area would experience a noticable rise in sea level without it occurring worldwide.
So...the St. Lawrence Seaway is running backwards now ?
I think that I recently heard that the moon was closer to the earth than it has been or will be in decades - maybe even in hundreds of years.
Would this effect the ‘rise of the tides’? I wonder if this was taken into account.
Trying to catch up with California where they declared it was rising fastest the other day.
The sea level cannot rise more quickly along the eastern North American coast than along the western European coast. Well, unless the Earth really is flat....
Yea really like this what we have to worry about. We are in hell right now who cares if the sea overflows.
The true root cause is more likely beach erosion on the east coast.
Another possibility is a difference in measuring metrics. Remember NASA's monumental Mars probe blunder confusing feet and meters in descent rate?
Well, there’s another broken campaign promise.........
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