from the invest-in-wellington-boots-now dept.
Virginia is more vulnerable to storm-surge destruction than anywhere else on the US's east coast. Problems are particularly acute in Norfolk, Virginia's second-biggest city and home to the world's largest naval base; sea levels there are now 14.5 inches (37 cm) higher than they were in 1930--so high that parts of Norfolk flood when the moon is full.
"A severe Category 2 or a Category 3 storm--if we were to receive a direct hit, almost all of the city would be underwater", Paul Fraim, Norfolk's mayor, told National Public Radio in 2012.
Worse, scientists expect sea levels in southern Virginia to rise at least a foot (30 cm) and perhaps as much as three feet by 2060. Moreover, that's only accounting for the sea-level rise. Factoring in subsidence--sinking land--Virginia's tides could be eight feet higher by 2100 in some areas, according to a study by Virginia Institute of Marine Science, with about six of those feet from sea-level alone.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Taibhsear on Wednesday July 02 2014, @03:50PM
Virginia spelled wrong in the title.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 02 2014, @03:55PM
So is centemeters.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday July 02 2014, @04:11PM
I hope Virgina's pussy doesn't get wet... cats hate that, I hear.
Also, isn't this good? The worlds largest naval base will just be even larger! Bonus... try to beat THAT, Putin!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by nightsky30 on Thursday July 03 2014, @12:52PM
Might be from Virginia?
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Wednesday July 02 2014, @04:10PM
How is the sea level rising a foot in Virginia but not everywhere else?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 02 2014, @04:29PM
i was wondering the same thing. then i read the SUMMARY and it mentions something about sinking land. i guess that's why "Virgina" is getting so wet. still seems strange though. i always heard it wasn't about the size of the tide but the motion of ocean.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday July 02 2014, @05:14PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Fundy [wikipedia.org]
where the tides range over 16 meters (~55ft) while just a few hundred miles away you have "normal tides"
.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 02 2014, @06:36PM
Round up volunteers Virginb-Virginz, we need to do a more in depth scientific study.
(Score: 2, Informative) by frojack on Wednesday July 02 2014, @06:42PM
Exactly. Its sinking land and tidal funneling. Its not rising oceans.
In fact the failure of the ocean rise is one of the unexplained mysteries, because predictions back in the 70s and 80s have universally failed to materialize to the degree they were predicted.
Satellite observations available since the early 1990s provide more accurate sea level data with nearly global coverage. This decade-long satellite altimetry data set shows that since 1993, sea level has been rising at a rate of around 3 mm yr.
Thermal expansion and melting of land ice each account for about half of the observed sea level rise, although there is a great deal of uncertainty in the estimates of how much is attributed to each source.
In agreement with climate models, satellite data and hydrographic observations show that sea level is not rising uniformly around the world. In some regions, rates are up to several times the global mean rise, while in other regions sea level is falling. Regional variability of the rates of sea level rise is mostly due to non-uniform changes in temperature (thermal expansion) and salinity and related to changes in the ocean circulation, as well as land subsidence, especially on the east coast of north and south america.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by khallow on Wednesday July 02 2014, @09:41PM
My stool movements are in agreement with climate models too, but you don't hear anyone crowing about that. It's more remarkable when the things in agreement are predicted by the models and relevant to the models rather than merely not hugely far out of whack. Sea temperature is relevant and something I'd expect a climate model to predict. Sea level is not (at least until you get to changing large enough areas of land or sea to the other category).
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday July 02 2014, @08:05PM
Sorry, but even though water tends to seek a level, it doesn't necessarily do so quickly over a large area. FWIW, I believe that at the mouths of the Panama Canal the Pacific is higher than the Atlantic. And I believe that I've heard before that the North Atlantic has a higher sea level than anywhere else on earth. (The US is adjacent to the North Atlantic.) The spin of the earth tends to make the sea level higher at the equator, and if the North Atlantic is the highest, then the really highest point might be the middle of the North Atlantic (on an North-South axis), which is about where Virginia is.
I think the land subsidence is in addition to the sea level change. I'm sure that Virginia doesn't have the greatest amount of subsidence, so if that were the case the article would be just wrong. (Admittedly a possibility.)
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Wednesday July 02 2014, @04:51PM
Sea level rise is not uniform - this is not a surprise. There are many factors here, for example: Thermal expansion of water. Changing ocean currents. The gravitational pull of the glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica, which decreases as the glaciers melt.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Wednesday July 02 2014, @05:06PM
"Thermal expansion of water."
OK so you'd expect the sea level to rise more somewhere in Florida where the water is warm than somewhere in Virginia where the water is cooler.
"Changing ocean currents."
Please document how these have changed in Virginia.
"The gravitational pull of the glaciers in Greenland"
OMG seriously. Please. Just leave. The weight of the ice on the land pushing the continent down a bit I will accept. Only this would tend to cause the ocean floor to sink and DECREASE the sea level. But the "gravitational pull"? Facepalm...
(Score: 2) by Vanderhoth on Wednesday July 02 2014, @05:30PM
I could be way off the mark here, but doesn't water expand when it cools? like when you fill a pop bottle with water and freeze it the water expands as it turns to ice in the bottle? Not that I think that's what's going on here, but I think it's one of those unintuitive properties specific to water.
I'm sure thermal expansion of water is a very minor contributing factor. Someone else has already pointed it out, but I don't live far from the Bay of Fundy [wikipedia.org], which has highest tides in the world. I'd say sea floor topology and surrounding land combined with gravitational pull, probably more from the moon than glaciers, is probably more of what's going on here.
Halifax, Nova Scotia [thecoast.ca] is looking at a similar situation.
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
(Score: 5, Informative) by Alfred on Wednesday July 02 2014, @05:52PM
Water is most dense at about 4 deg Centigrade. Cooling or heating from there the water/ice will expand. This is an odd property of water. The 1 liter = 1 kilogram of water conversion is at 4 degrees because it is the point of greatest density.
(Score: 2) by Vanderhoth on Wednesday July 02 2014, @06:07PM
Thanks, I knew it was an oddity. Totally makes sense that it expands as it gets hotter. Steam, duh...
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
(Score: 3, Informative) by Alfred on Wednesday July 02 2014, @06:47PM
Ice being less dense than water is the part that doesn't make sense at first. I can't think of anything else where the solid is less dense than the liquid. There probably is something but I have not heard of it.
Water has been very extensively studied and quantified
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_(data_page) [wikipedia.org]
So now you know, and knowing is half...oh wait, nevermind.
(Score: 1) by theronb on Wednesday July 02 2014, @06:22PM
Water contracts as it cools until about 4 C. where it begins expanding, resulting in ice being less dense than liquid water, which is why ice cubes float. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_expansion#Expansion_in_liquids [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Informative) by TK on Wednesday July 02 2014, @07:06PM
Here's the short version of every child comment of your post, summed up in a concise graph. [wikipedia.org]
The fleas have smaller fleas, upon their backs to bite them, and those fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Wednesday July 02 2014, @05:57PM
No, you'd expect the sea to rise where the water temperature is rising.
Son, I have no clue how the currents have changed in Virginia. I'm just saying that's one possible cause. I didn't expect the Global Warming Inquisition.
No need to be an asshole.
The glaciers' gravity is pulling sea water towards them, which causes the sea level to drop elsewhere. Guess what happens when the glaciers melt. I don't know if that's what's happening here, but it's a known phenomenon. Look it up if you don't believe me.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday July 02 2014, @04:56PM
Land sinking faster than the sea going up. Google subsidence or groundwater-related subsidence
The san joaquin valley drops about half a foot per year, that'll be stopping as soon as they finish emptying their aquifer.
New orleans drops about 1/4 inch per year, something about silt compaction or something. Pumping out oil 500 miles away doesn't have much effect, at least 500 miles away, the problem in N.O. is something WRT silt. Obviously pumping out oil or water or natgas can cause massive subsidence like a foot a year right by the wells.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Wednesday July 02 2014, @05:08PM
Yeah I thought subsidence too except for this bit in TFS:
"Moreover, that's only accounting for the sea-level rise. Factoring in subsidence--sinking land--Virginia's tides could be eight feet higher by 2100"
So it's not subsidence, apparently. I'm guessing aliens.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday July 02 2014, @05:28PM
Whoa. Sounds like this story has had so much journalism applied the truth may be unknowable.
Can't possibly be erosion? Maybe they're expecting glaciers? Volcanoes?
(Score: 1) by Freeman on Wednesday July 02 2014, @06:12PM
Gilligan is moving the measuring pole to catch crabs/shrimp.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Wednesday July 02 2014, @06:35PM
It isn't really. The land is sinking. Norfolk and the Chesapeake bay are built over a meteor impact which is settling. In addition, the usual over development and lack of planning is causing some of these issues.
SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
(Score: 4, Funny) by hoochiecoochieman on Wednesday July 02 2014, @04:18PM
What do you mean? An African or European foot?
(Score: 2) by hoochiecoochieman on Wednesday July 02 2014, @04:22PM
Now seriously, the editor had the care of including the metric conversions in the summary. Kudos to you for doing that.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday July 02 2014, @07:17PM
A few lines earlier it states 1 foot is approximately 30cm. Now, if you can't do the maths and work it out from that......
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday July 02 2014, @07:18PM
..at least, I think that is what you were asking for...?
(Score: 2) by hoochiecoochieman on Thursday July 03 2014, @10:30AM
I was just joking with the title. I gave you kudos for including the metric translations next to the US ones. It's not so often people bother to do that. It's polite for all the Soylents from out of the US. Thank you very much, and IMHO this should be a mandatory editorial procedure (if it's not already).