Too soon to start planning a seawall?

[Digital_Islandboy]

Is it too soon to start planning a seawall for Massachusetts?

Article: Rising sea level puts US Atlantic coast at risk: report
Date: AFP – June 24, 2012 - 7+ hrs ago
Source: www.news.yahoo.com - Yahoo News

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/rising-sea-lev...171554622.html

The sea level on a stretch of the US Atlantic coast that features the cities of New York, Norfolk and Boston is rising up to four times faster than the global average, a report said Sunday.

This increases the flood risk for one of the world's most densely-populated coastal areas and threatens wetland habitats, said a study reported in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Since about 1990, the sea level along the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) "hotspot" zone has risen by two to 3.7 millimetres (0.08 to 0.15 inches) per year.
The global rise over the same period was between 0.6 and one millimetre per year, said the study by the US Geological Survey (USGS).[ . . . ] MORE @ LINK.

[armpitsOFmight]

I live on a hill so I don't care!

[dshoost88]

The recent news about the rising sea levels effecting the east coast reminded me of this great solution/story posted a few years ago:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/id..._from_the_sea/

[AmericanFolkLegend]

I read that article and I still don't understand how some parts of the ocean can rise faster than others. They mention salinity and temperatures, but it still seems like the sea level should be fairly constant around the globe.

[underground]

Climate Change is a liberal conspiracy designed to funnel money to Big Seawall!!!

[Nexis4jersey]

Originally Posted by AmericanFolkLegend

I read that article and I still don't understand how some parts of the ocean can rise faster than others. They mention salinity and temperatures, but it still seems like the sea level should be fairly constant around the globe.

Unless the earth slowed down , sea levels should rise or fall evenly across the global.

[Shepard]

Doesn't make sense to me either. Why North Carolina to Boston and not Florida, which is almost entirely at sea level?

I'm thinking based on the way the article reads that the study actually looked at coastal vulnerability to increasingly strong storms that will occasionally drive up tides and manifest stronger waves (which is probably peripherally related to global sea level rise but the sea level itself is not exactly the central concern.)

[choo]

Big Seawall +100 hahaha

[HenryAlan]

Originally Posted by armpitsOFmight

I live on a hill so I don't care!

Me too -- the value of hour houses will rise with the sea!

Originally Posted by Nexis4jersey

Unless the earth slowed down , sea levels should rise or fall evenly across the global.

I'm not versed on this issue, but speed of the Earth may indeed be the explanation. The surface of the Earth rotates much faster further South than it does up here. A patch of land on the equator has to traverse 24,901 miles in a day, which is to say it is moving at 1,038 miles per hour. Boston, on the other hand, sits on a much smaller circle around the Earth's axis, and is only moving at 771 miles per hour.

see this: http://www.thevlecks.net/rmj/earth.html

Additionally, the matter of salinity and temperature should indeed factor, as they go to the density of the water. Certain areas are higher salinity, certain areas are colder, etc. Greater or less density will allow a disproportionate impact from the rotational speed. It's not at all hard to see how variance in sea level can occur. It wouldn't make sense for it not too occur.

[Matthew]

Don't have to get too exotic even. Think about tides. The sea level changes every day, unevenly around the world, thanks to gravity of the Moon and the Sun. Earth's gravitational field isn't uniform either, but that is probably a much smaller effect. And the oceanic bulge around the Earth, when combined with the Moon's gravity, is responsible for the slowing of the Earth's rotation. A tidal drag. The conservation of angular momentum is causing the Moon to move away slowly as a result.

Unless you're Bill O'Reilly, tides aren't too mysterious.

[Commuting Boston Student]

Originally Posted by dshoost88

The recent news about the rising sea levels effecting the east coast reminded me of this great solution/story posted a few years ago:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/id..._from_the_sea/

The red lines are highways, right? It's hard to tell.

[BostonUrbEx]

Originally Posted by Commuting Boston Student

The red lines are highways, right? It's hard to tell.

Yep. It also shows rail lines over it, but its hard to see it in that image.

[Digital_Islandboy]

Originally Posted by Nexis4jersey

Unless the earth slowed down , sea levels should rise or fall evenly across the global.

Tides don't rise and fall uniformly around the world. Esp. if somewhere is a choke point. Also the depth of certain areas can be a factor. The earth naturally heats up and cools off. All one can do is be as ready as possible and other than that transition with it. I guess one easy answer would be homeowners be responsible for their own land. If each land owner placed 3 feet (or more) of soil on their property that would be an easy way to raise the land elevation... Houses that have 'front steps' might just become "street level" in the process. If I were in New Orleans and rebuilding I would have at least raised the level of my 'lot' 2-3 feet above what the flood waters rose to. There was no point in taking taxpayer dollars to rebuild New Orleans infrastructure under median sea level again. Each land parcel should have had to truck in dirt to raise up higher.

[AmericanFolkLegend]

I guess one easy answer would be homeowners be responsible for their own land. If each land owner placed 3 feet (or more) of soil on their property that would be an easy way to raise the land elevation

^That doesn't work in isolation. You'd just be creating new areas that would flood (streets, sidewalks, public parks, etc.). If you raised all private land 3 feet you'd need to redesign and rebuild the entire public drainage infrastructure. You'd probably also need to install all new utility poles (for clearance). And you'd need to do it all at once (e.g., if my neighbors raise their land 3 feet and I wait a week, my house will flood with the first heavy rain).

[underground]

Originally Posted by Digital_Islandboy

I guess one easy answer would be homeowners be responsible for their own land.

Very easy. We can level out the Rocky's for all the fill we'll need. No one's using them any way.

[whighlander]

Originally Posted by Digital_Islandboy

Is it too soon to start planning a seawall for Massachusetts?

Article: Rising sea level puts US Atlantic coast at risk: report
Date: AFP – June 24, 2012 - 7+ hrs ago
Source: www.news.yahoo.com - Yahoo News

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/rising-sea-lev...171554622.html

The sea level on a stretch of the US Atlantic coast that features the cities of New York, Norfolk and Boston is rising up to four times faster than the global average, a report said Sunday.

This increases the flood risk for one of the world's most densely-populated coastal areas and threatens wetland habitats, said a study reported in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Since about 1990, the sea level along the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) "hotspot" zone has risen by two to 3.7 millimetres (0.08 to 0.15 inches) per year.
The global rise over the same period was between 0.6 and one millimetre per year, said the study by the US Geological Survey (USGS).[ . . . ] MORE @ LINK.

Total Load of KRAP!

We deal with nearly 10 feet of daily Sea Level rise and fall due to the local tides.

The individual peaks and troughs in sea level then vary a whole lot more than a few mm on the month to month and year to year basis due to the solar/lunar alignments, local winds and even air pressure -- let alone the occasional depression or the incompetent sewer worker in Quincy who forgets to close the existing tide gates

[BostonUrbEx]

"I chose where to build my house, now you all must protect it!"

[Justin7]

Originally Posted by whighlander

Total Load of KRAP!

We deal with nearly 10 feet of daily Sea Level rise and fall due to the local tides.

The individual peaks and troughs in sea level then vary a whole lot more than a few mm on the month to month and year to year basis due to the solar/lunar alignments, local winds and even air pressure -- let alone the occasional depression or the incompetent sewer worker in Quincy who forgets to close the existing tide gates

This is relevant how? Do you think warming based sea level changes will eliminate natural tidal changes? It's not one or the other. No one is saying we're going to see floods during low tide.

[underground]

Originally Posted by BostonUrbEx

"I chose where to build my house, now you all must protect it!"

More like "We built our entire city here back in 1630 before the combustion engine had even been invented."

[BostonUrbEx]