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Posted on 05/22/2012 9:38:49 PM PDT by neverdem
Human use of water contributes markedly to rising tides.
Climate change, with its associated melting ice caps and shrinking glaciers, is the usual suspect when it comes to explaining rising sea levels. But a recent study now shows that human water use has a major impact on sea-level change that has been overlooked.
During the latter half of the twentieth century, global sea level rose by about 1.8 millimetres per year, according to data from tide gauges. The combined contribution from heating of the oceans, which makes the water expand, along with melting of ice caps and glaciers, is estimated to be 1.1 millimetres per year, which leaves some 0.7 millimetres per year unaccounted for. This gap has been considered an important missing piece of the puzzle in estimates for past and current sea-level changes and for projections of future rises.
It now seems that the effects of human water use on land could fill that gap. A team of researchers reports in Nature Geoscience that land-based water storage could account for 0.77 millimetres per year, or 42%, of the observed sea-level rise between 1961 and 2003. Of that amount, the extraction of groundwater for irrigation and home and industrial use, with subsequent run-off to rivers and eventually to the oceans, represents the bulk of the contribution.
Taikan Oki, a global hydrologist at the University of Tokyo and an author on the paper, says that he was initially “astonished” at how well the team’s estimates of terrestrial water usage filled the deficit between the observed sea-level rise and what was accounted for by thermal water expansion and melting ice. “I didn’t expect that terrestrial water storage had such a big impact on sea level,” says Oki. And, he adds, “I didn’t expect that human extraction of groundwater would matter so...”
(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...
And they make fun of those medieval philosophers who supposedly tried to count the number of angels that would fit on the head of pin.
How big is a pinhead?.... The head of a pin is about 2mm in diameter.
I doubt there is enough water being locked up or freed by any projects to make a discernable distance. As far as sea water encroaching into land systems and causing a change - water seeks it's own level...
Algore is much much bigger than that
That's less than an inch per decade. Or, about 8 inches per century.
I think we can adapt.
Whatta bunch of hysteria.
No one can possibly measure 1.8 millimeters of ocean difference. These liberals are simply making up numbers.
Such total BS! 99.999% of human water usage goes right back into the hydrologic cycle in a matter of hours, and the rest in days. The result is no less water, and no more water; just a matter of distribution.
I don’t waste my money on that. I just mix 2 parts hydrogen with 1 part oxygen and make my own.
You are correct. There is a margin of error, allowing for atmospheric distortion of telemetry -- hence the "±7" disclaimer. When you have an increase of +3 and a margin of error higher than 3, the statistic is at worst misleading, at best useless, and in effect a wash. Time for a healthy grain of salt.
So basically, "No". Or at least "Not with sufficient confidence to base policy on the results."
Adapt? Hell, we might not even NOTICE.
The Way I understand it ALL the water on this planet came from somewhere else.
Are we getting new water from outside our atmosphere?
NASA says about 100 tons of material hits the earth every day. Good thing the earth is so big.
Some of that will be water, probably not a lot.
I don’t have a number for how much material is stripped off the atmosphere by the solar wind, but I’m sure someone will ‘splain it to this cook.
/johnny
..............
Is there that much blue “ice” falling from the jets?
dihydrogenperoxide — caution, it may be the last thing you ever drink.
/johnny
Interesting. Reminds me of the insidious substance -- "bread":
1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are serial (cereal?) bread users.
2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.
3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.
4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.
5. Bread is made from a substance called "dough." It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average American eats more bread than that in one month!
6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and osteoporosis.
7. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.
8. Bread is often a "gateway" food item, leading the user to "harder" items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.
9. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.
10. Newborn babies can choke on bread.
11. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.
12. Most American bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.
In light of these frightening statistics, it has been proposed that the following bread restrictions be made:
1. No sale of bread to minors.
2. A nationwide "Just Say No To Toast" campaign, complete celebrity TV spots and bumper stickers.
3. A 300 percent federal tax on all bread to pay for all the societal ills we might associate with bread.
4. No animal or human images, nor any primary colors (which may appeal to children) may be used to promote bread usage.
5. The establishment of "Bread-free" zones around schools.
>> “There are huge balls of water ice hitting the planet all the time.” <<
.
Small Comets: http://smallcomets.physics.uiowa.edu/blackspot.html
Sounds like your one of those who want to ban dihydrogen monoxide. http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
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