Sea Level Rise

Sea level rise is increasingly seen as inevitable by the scientific community; the question is how fast and how high will the sea rise? Scientists who study glaciers and the polar ice sheets have recorded unprecedented changes in the last few years. Many scientists are concluding that previous estimates of sea level rise were serious underestimations of what will actually occur in the coming decades. The latest forecasts predict sea-level rise may exceed 1 meter by 2100, with a rise of up to 2 meters considered an upper limit at this time. This will have major effects on our coastal cities and those along streams and rivers, including Ballona Creek, several miles inland.

The state of California is trying to be proactive on the topic, as seen in a Los Angeles Times article of March 12, 2009:

California Panel Urges ‘Immediate Action’ to Protect from Rising Sea Levels

By Margot Roosevelt

…As California officials see it, global warming is happening so there’s no time to waste in figuring out what to do.
California’s interagency Climate Action Team on Wednesday issued the first of 40 reports on impacts and adaptation, outlining what the state’s residents must do to deal with the floods, erosion and other effects expected from rising sea levels.
Hundreds of thousands of people and billions of dollars of Golden State infrastructure and property would be at risk if ocean levels rose 55 inches by the end of the century, as computer models suggest, according to the report.
The group floated several radical proposals: limit coastal development in areas at risk from sea rise; consider phased abandonment of certain areas; halt federally subsidized insurance for property likely to be inundated; and require coastal structures to be built to adapt to climate change.
“Immediate action is needed,” said Linda Adams, secretary for environmental protection. “It will cost significantly less to combat climate change than it will to maintain a business-as- usual approach.”…

For more of the article:

http://articles.latimes.com/print/2009/mar/12/local/me-global-warming-searise12

For a detailed account of scientific research on sea level rise: from The New Scientist, 01 July 2009: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327151.300-sea-level-rise-its-worse-than- we-thought.html (subscription only)

Sea Level Rise: It’s Worse Than We Thought

By Anil Ananthaswamy
…The oceans are already rising. Global average sea level rose about 17 centimetres in the 20th century, and the rate of rise is increasing. The biggest uncertainty for those trying to predict future changes is how humanity will behave. Will we start to curb our emissions of greenhouse gases sometime soon, or will we continue to pump ever more into the atmosphere? Even if all emissions stopped today, sea level would continue to rise. “The current rate of rise would continue for centuries if temperatures are constant, and that would add about 30 centimetres per century to global sea level,” says Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. “If we burn all fossil fuels, we are likely to end up with many metres of sea level rise in the long run, very likely more than 10 metres in my view.” This might sound dramatic, but we know sea level has swung from 120 metres lower than today during ice ages to more than 70 metres higher during hot periods. There is no doubt at all that if the planet warms, the sea will rise. The key questions are, by how much and how soon?…