funny thing is, when I look around the old fishing boat harbours and such like, new wharfs, jetty's and fingers seem to be at the same height above sea level as old ones from 30-40 years ago. I would have thought that any change would have resulted in the old ones being considerably lower in the water if the level had risen???
sea levels also rise because of the wash of the land/earth down the rivers,
off the foreshore, beaches are becoming flatter, silting up, all the rubbish
dumped out to sea. including uncountable numbers of containers swept
overboard from ships, and indeed sunken ships themselves. Geologists
know that some metals once firmly ensconsed on the land mass, have been
eroded, washed down the streams and rivers into the sea where they have
been remoulded as mass. Indeed huge underwater mining ventures do exist
around the world. It is the ultimate prize. to recover such riches
In Adelaide the main land sailing beach has a VERY slight fall, with about 1m tide drop will give about 1km width of beach i.e.(1000 / 1) fall.
In the past 30 years the difference between low and high tides seem about the same.
I would have expected if there was a "rise of the sea level" this would be VERY evident on this beach... but its not !!!
So is this based on your precise measurements over 30 years or just your dodgy recollections of what things were like 30 years ago? Are you sure, for instance, that a shift in tide heights hasn't shifted the sands so that the beach appears the same as it once did?
Understand thatI don't know either way, I'm just pointing out that subjective recollections is not hard science.
Yep, you are right. I will accept my ignorance, and apologise.
So, - how much does the sea level rise each year ?
(in inches or mm, I don't mind).
If you tell me "it could be upto 800mm in the next 100 years as the documentry did, and then play some duuum duummm duuuumm music and zoom in and out very fast and have Cpt Mannering running about saying we're all doomed, doomed I tell you and then run an ad for solar panels whilst I go and make a cup of tea", then I will know you have missed my point and I will shut up.
If, however you tell me that there general consensus amongst scientists all over the globe that the sea level is rising / falling at xxx per year, and the calculated rate of change is yyyy per year based on volumetic water change factored for ocean variables, then I will know I missed your point and I will shut up.
Before I shut up, I'll leave you with one last thing for you to use as evidence against me at at my heracy trial: every injury from a shark attack makes the front page. Every injury from a car crash doesn't. I believe it is because one thing sells, one thing doesn't. I am sorry for that belief. It is clearly actually because sharks are more of a threat to the average person's safety than cars, so it is every journalists responsibility to report on sharks and not cars to assit us, the general public in our daily lives.
http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/index/id/171#livechat
Very interesting comments if you missed the show. Honestly, all opinions aside, the levels have been rising for...well, ever! So why all the sudden attention? Maybe we've only just realised that it's going to affect our wallets & lifestyle?
The paranoia surrounding rising sea levels shows the level of public ignorance we have in regard to our natural environment, or maybe just we're just so self absorbed most of the time, and when we catch a glimpse of something that becomes an opinionated debate (global warming/climate change/rising sea-levels/energy crisis, etc.) that we read what is put in front of us, and choose an argument that we relate to...when basically it should be handled & commented on only by qualified professionals that are at the forefront of the research?!?
Then again...if that was the case, there would be no need for most of the discussions on these forums?
If sea levels are rising, someone forgot to tell the guys that write the tide tables.
ahahaha - that was side splitting funny
Today tonight on crack!
Love that middle bit..."ermm they're smarter dan us"
Good to see they're appealing to the lowest common denominator,
aint siiunce demokratik afta all?
sea levels arn't rising! the land mass is sinking because of all the extra people....don't need to be a scientist to work that out derr
Personally I think the concern over rising sea levels is partially caused by the huge number of people living close to the coast and tidal rivers.
I'm not sure but the population of London 1000 years ago was probably not much more than 10,000. As of today there are probably over 5,000,000 people living there now. Similarly the population on an island like Samoa is probably much larger than what it was a reasonably short time ago. So more people are affect by sea level changes.
Related to this is the development and investment that takes place close to the coast. If the sea level rose on a tropical island a thousand years ago then people would have moved their shack a bit uphill. If there was no hill to go up they would have to find somewhere else to live if they could find somewhere else. If sea levels rise today hospitals, houses, shops, roads, railways, airports and all sorts of things will be destroyed. The problem of finding somewhere else still remains.
From what I've read, sea levels are variable. They have been much lower than what they are now. They have been much higher than they are now.
Really all our efforts to stop the ocean from rising or falling seems to be like King Canute's followers telling him he was so powerful he could hold back the tide. Futile.
