Rising sea levels

[john]

Living near Lake Michigan, we've been hearing a lot about how the Great Lakes are higher than ever since they started recording in 1918. Of course it's blamed on climate change...who knows, maybe that's right, or maybe not, but the true idiocy comes from the scientifically illiterate news folks who keep showing pictures like this and say "climate change, yada yada yada, rising sea levels."



That house is about 600 feet ABOVE SEA LEVEL. It'll be gone long before rising sea level gets it. Actually, I think that one has been demolished by now, but the point is it has absolutely nothing to do with rising sea level.

This happens almost every year along the Great Lakes, even in drought years when the lakes are down 6 feet from their current level. Waterfront bluffs and sand dunes are not stable places to build. They are constantly shifting. Build there if you want, but don't be surprised when the land blows/washes away and your house falls in the lake. It's called NATURE!

[Ozarks Tom]

It's a shame nobody had the sense to put those big rocks below the house before the erosion took away the land supporting it.

Highest since 1918? One hundred years isn't even a drop in the bucket when it comes to climate changes. Am I correct in assuming the increased lake levels can be measured in single digit inches?

[daw]

What about all the houses along the Arkansas River?
Either they have 6 ft of water in them or....
There is such a thing called flood plain.
There is such a thing as research on land that
will collapse in the ocean , lake, or river.
People that built their homes 600 feet away are
now looking at the ocean less than 200 ft away.

So what there is a recorded fact that every 40 years or so,
the climate is warmer/hotter then in 40 years or so we have
much colder weather. Centuries of recording have proved this...

[joebill]

As a guy who has always observed the rules that govern the planet....and NO, I am not talking about government, but nature, I have a question. I will be really happy with any explanation that makes sense.

Over time, and this old planet has had time a-plenty, when we observe water eroding away dirt and rocks, sucking them into the water on every single coastline throughout the world, why in the world would sea levels NOT rise?

We had the lesson sometime around second grade about the bird, unable to drink from the glass that had a low water level, dropping pebbles into it until the water level rose enough for it to drink. Yes, I DO realize that as coastlines erode, that is partially compensated for by seabed expansion, but all of those coffee colored rivers are carrying dirt from far inland and depositing it in the seas, too. The old Mississippi has been creating acreage in the gulf from whenever day one was, and always will.

Now, I am willing to sit quietly while a "scientist" tells me that all of that is included in his calculations, but after he is done talking, I'll have a thing or two to say regarding male bovine feces and it's effect upon modern scientific discussion...….Joe

[john]

Am I correct in assuming the increased lake levels can be measured in single digit inches?

From year to year, it's usually in the single digit inches (either up or down) but sometimes more. Right now it's 15 inches above this time last year, 35 inches above the average level for this time of year.

The difference between high and low is about 6 feet, but it takes quite a few years to swing that much. My brother has a cottage on Huron that's been in the family our whole lives. Right now, it would be washed away if not for the seawall, but I remember just five years ago the water line was at least 100 feet out, and in the 1970s it was twice as far. And it's been up to the seawall a few times, too. Not sure how much of a level change it takes to make that much difference, probably around 3-4 feet from the highest I've seen to the lowest.

I don't actually know how they measure water level with waves constantly changing, maybe just some kind of average over the course of the day.

[john]

Interesting question, Joe. I never thought of that. I'll have to ponder it.

[DEKE]

Joe, you also have to account for the fact that parts of our dry world are rising. The Himalayas are getting higher by about 2.5 inches per year. That is a whole lot of land that has to be coming from somewhere.

Yes, the seas are being filled in, but the sea bed is slowly crawling up the side Mt Everest, well...in a figurative sense. Also, man has taken lots of sand out of the oceans when we built land in NYC, the Netherlands, rebuilding coastlines, the Tokyo airport, etc. What man has done is less than a drop in the bucket, but unlike your analogy with the pebbles in the glass, there are lots of variables at play in determining sea level.

[Deleted]

God and Nature have been at work for eons. Creating land and taking it away is the work of nature. Always has been, always will.
I’m the end Nature will come in, heal and take over all that man has wrought. It may take centuries but Grass will win.

[joebill]

Nov 11, 2019 20:31:31 GMT DEKE said:

Joe, you also have to account for the fact that parts of our dry world are rising. The Himalayas are getting higher by about 2.5 inches per year. That is a whole lot of land that has to be coming from somewhere.

Yes, the seas are being filled in, but the sea bed is slowly crawling up the side Mt Everest, well...in a figurative sense. Also, man has taken lots of sand out of the oceans when we built land in NYC, the Netherlands, rebuilding coastlines, the Tokyo airport, etc. What man has done is less than a drop in the bucket, but unlike your analogy with the pebbles in the glass, there are lots of variables at play in determining sea level.

And yet, "leading scientists" claim to have it all figured out, factored in all of the variables, know for SURE that sea levels are rising and at what rate.

Betcha they also know exactly when mankind will cure cancer, too.....Joe

[paisley]

john, if it was not for a receding of an ice age melting that lake would not exist.

But back then there were no climate change people around to decry how once the glaciers melt the earth's land mass will be an ocean floor .... "There's only 10 years till no life will exist... Save the glaciers groups!"

[Deleted]

Well, I don't know why you folks are even discussing it.

The person who sat in the Oval Office before Mr Trump announced that "The science is settled," and that should be good enough for everyone.

[joebill]

I think we should adopt a glacier! Where do we send the adoption fee and how much is it?... …..Joe

[Txsteader]

Having lived along this coast all my life, I remember 40 years ago, the cry was 'subsidence!!!!' Haven't heard that word in probably 20 years now. <eyeroll>

[john]

I always hear that about Chicago. It's sinking so it'll be flooded by the lake eventually. But it's only been something like 4 inches in a hundred years. Nowhere near as bad as Venice, that also has sea level and tidal issues.

It's all nature. Remember when liberals liked nature and were all about saving it from man? But their idea of nature is Central Park in NYC, possibly one of the least natural places on earth, all manmade.

[joebill]

I recall back in the hippie days, one of the sitcoms had the traditional father and the hippie son discussing life in general.

The hippie son said "it's all about love and peace, Dad! they protect us, all over the world!"

His father said "Son, I have BEEN all over the world....take a gun!"....Joe