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The Forum > Article Comments > Sink or swim > Comments

Sink or swim : Comments

By Kellie Tranter, published 10/5/2010

Every now and then an issue comes along that is beyond the reach of politics. Rising sea levels is just such an issue.

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How come when people raise concerns about sea level rises, they fail to take into account that tectonic factors can cause land to subside (thus giving an impression of sea level rising) or emerge(thus giving an impression of sea level falling).

Surely, if sea level was rising globally due to a global phenomenon, wouldn't the increase in sea level be the same everywhere? The observed fact that it is not is telling you something. Something else is going on.

In some cases there is subsidence due to extraction of the groundwater (Adelaide for example). In other cases such as river deltas, the subsidence is caused by the additional sediment loads as the rivers deposit sediment on their deltas.

Unfortunately Our CSIRO, in reporting on sea level rises, choose not (I can't imagine why this is so) to tell us that local ground movements are a major factor in the observed data.

It is time that the CSIRO tells us the truth on these matters.
Posted by Herbert Stencil, Tuesday, 11 May 2010 7:39:12 AM
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Why is it that no-one in developed countries ever notices sea level rise? We only ever hear it from those who seem to be after some cash. Funny how the sea only rises near poor communities.
Posted by Atman, Tuesday, 11 May 2010 11:35:38 AM
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"Unfortunately Our CSIRO, in reporting on sea level rises, choose not (I can't imagine why this is so) to tell us that local ground movements are a major factor in the observed data.

It is time that the CSIRO tells us the truth on these matters.
Posted by Herbert Stencil, Tuesday, 11 May 2010 7:39:12 AM"

Perhaps, if Herbert Sencil were to read the actual reports (CSIRO and others) on these issues, rather than re-gurgitated misinformation about them, then perhaps he would see that they are telling the truth. But then again, probably it is not the preferred spin on the issue and will not be accepted.
Posted by colinsett, Tuesday, 11 May 2010 1:12:20 PM
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“Protagoras - your professor Zhou Qiulin is a right, raving nutter.”

Curmudgeon – Careful about name-calling because the empirical evidence om shoreline retreats is hardly scientific.

The following link should bring you up to date on some of the coastal retreats around the planet and on page 421, researchers state that in the Yellow River Delta in China, the maximum shoreline retreat reached 11 kilometres between 1976 an 2000, an annual loss of 420 metres.

In addition, a maximum retreat of 300 metres/year has been estimated at the Luanhe River Mouth and an average of 25 metres/year for its offshore sandbars:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:ir3rNhnVELwJ:pub.nsfc.gov.cn/pinsen/ch/reader/create_pdf.aspx%3Ffile_no%3D2009415%26flag%3D1%26journal_id%3Dpinsen+Liaodong+Bay+in+northeast+China's+coast+line+retreat+15+meters&hl=en&gl=au&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjkP1D0T_G2s3YEui5SvaezMdKV12Xic2q7LRnC42P8_9EgxdI0TQsDZtz70c9kdxOs6zg9z84qdlvvOeawHiKYB7dfMsgmvUATTAjiZrdPV65q9VqnA_JdiBsG1y0vtRSRHcN4&sig=AHIEtbTVDyKU0X-L-mdqa37gMjKiW6d6ig

‘Most of the world’s sandy shorelines retreated during the past century (Bird, 1985; NRC, 1990; Leatherman, 2001; Eurosion, 2004) and sea-level rise is one underlying cause.

‘One half or more of the Mississippi and Texas shorelines have eroded at average rates of 3.1 to 2.6 m/yr since the 1970s, while 90% of the Louisiana shoreline eroded at a rate of 12.0 m/yr (Morton et al., 2004).

'In Nigeria, retreat rates up to 30 m/yr are reported (Okude and Ademiluyi, 2006). Coastal squeeze and steepening are also widespread as illustrated along the eastern coast of the United Kingdom where 67% of the coastline experienced a landward retreat of the low-water mark over the past century (Taylor et al., 2004).’

“You really should attempted (sic) to see the big picture on this. Let me try to explain:“

Thinkabit – Please desist from explaining further since I have no idea what relevance your post has to preparing for shoreline retreats caused by human activity hence the economical, social an environmental consequences. Your comments on the situation in Bangladesh are particularly ill-informed, if not bizarre!

However, rather than lecture we grownups on how to donate “to a charity that provides clean drinking water, vaccinations, safe sex education, etc” why not collect your own begging bowl and plead with the new welfare queens, the Wall Street bankers, whose obscene bail-outs put all the non-military government programmes to shame?
Posted by Protagoras, Tuesday, 11 May 2010 4:11:47 PM
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Protagoras - had a look at the paper you referenced. Your Chinese guy isn't a nutter but you have wildly oversold the paper. I have to read it more carefully but the dire warnings are not so much about stuff that's happened, but about stuff that they project will happen. Most of it points to local conditions as well as sea level increases as cuasuing known changes. Those sea level increases it attributes to climate change. Actually its fair enough. These guys want funding so they need to stick in refernces to climate change where-ever possible. Looks good in the grant applications.
Posted by Curmudgeon, Tuesday, 11 May 2010 5:16:42 PM
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how do such 'clever' people write such dumb stuff. If anyone wants to sell me a cheap property on the beach in Perth, Sydney or the Gold Coast please let me know.
Posted by runner, Tuesday, 11 May 2010 5:31:13 PM
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