Rising sea levels are going to mess with the internet

Mon Jul 23 18:28:02 UTC 2018

On 7/23/2018 2:03 PM, Owen DeLong wrote:
> Actually, the graphic that is at the top of that link does support his claims.

I was thinking that too - but it could ALSO have something to do with 
the fact that literally hundreds of millions of Indians and Chinese 
citizens joined the 1st world economy - and started doing things like 
driving cars - in recent decades. That could be a larger factor than 
their particular political/economic systems.

ALSO: The BEST arguments on this thread for why we should worry about 
flooding or rising water levels - came from arguments that the actual 
continents are shifting in ways that cause certain coasts to rise or 
sink - regardless of the actual overall ocean depth. I don't know much 
about that - but I do know that (1) THAT particular situation has 
NOTHING to do with CO2 levels or emissions. (2) the parts of this 
conversation that does have to do with CO2 levels is specifically based 
on the theory that (a) high CO2 levels cause warming, which then (b) 
causes the icecaps to melt, which then causes (c) the sea levels to rise 
at an accelerated pace (beyond what it did when the overall CO2 levels 
were lower), as a direct result of increasing levels of CO2 in the 
atmosphere.

but (c) is junk science - since it is NOT happening - the acceleration 
of sea levels rising beyond an average of 3.5mm/year is almost 
non-existent - therefore discussions of CO2 levels and emissions 
unnecessarily politicizes this discussion.

Or, at least, the people who are complaining about how this doesn't 
belong on NANOG (which is a reasonable assessment) - and who complain 
about "climate deniers" - shouldn't be able to shut down certain factual 
and logical arguments (that rock their world) - yet not have a problem 
with continued discussion about CO2 levels and emissions. (that would be 
hypocritical and unscientific)

-- 
Rob McEwen