Sea Levels Rising - Global Warming Forecasts
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The challenge is we have built most of our civilization within a few feet of sea level or right at the edge.
Director, Institute of Marine Sciences,
University of California, Santa Cruz
Co-Author, Living With
the Changing California Coast
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2015 | Rising Seal Levels
2015. Lagos, Nigeria projected to be at risk from sea level rise. "Nigeria will suffer from climate-induced drought, desertification, and sea level rise. Already, approximately 1,350 square miles of Nigerian land turns to desert each year, forcing both farmers and herdsmen to abandon their homes. Lagos, the capital, is one of the West African coastal megacities [along with Alexandria, Egypt] that the IPCC identifies as at risk from sea level rise by 2015. This, coupled with high population growth (Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa, and three-fourths of the population is under the age of 30), will force significant migration and contribute to political and economic turmoil. It will, for instance, exacerbate the existing internal conflict over oil production in the Niger Delta." (Alexander T.J. Lennon, Jay Gulledge, J.R. McNeill, John Podesta, Peter Ogden, Leon Fuerth, R. James Woolsey, Julianne Smith, Richard Weitz, and Derek Mix. The Age of Consequences: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC, November 5, 2007) See videos about Lagos, Nigeria sea level rise impacts.
2025 | Sea Level Rise
2025. Sea levels forecast to rise up to 10 inches by 2025 based on a 3 degree Fahrenheit rise in ocean temperatures.
“As global temperatures rise because of the greenhouse effect, oceans
levels expand by the warmer water temperatures and because of the
glacial melting, according to John S. Hoffman, director of EPA's Strategic Studies staff, which conducted [the Sea Level Rise Project].
The study provided two scenarios on the possible effects over the next
40 to 100 years. The low scenario, based on on the calculated
three-degree rise in ocean temperatures, will make the seas rise . . .
up to 10 inches by 2025. Such an increase by 2025 would be enough to
'significantly increase (storm and erosion) hazards at places like Ocean City [Maryland].' Hoffman said. . .
For barrier islands like Ocean City, according to Stephen P. Leatherman,
a University of Maryland coastal geographer who participated in the
research, the results would differ, depending on the scenario. 'Even
the rate of sea level rise in the low scenario would mean erosion
problems two or three times worse than what they (Ocean City) are
seeing now, and the high scenario would be almost catastrophic — at
least a major, major increase in storm hazards, there,' he said. One
big problem cited by Hoffman is that around the United States there are
already 1,137 active hazardous-waste disposal sites located in 100-year
floodplains, areas where major innundations should occur at least once
a century.” Climate change 2025. (Associated Press, "Greenhouse effect' may harm bay water,"
Frederick News-Post, Frederick, Maryland, May 2, 1983, p. 13)
2025. Maryland shoreline in Somerset County projected to be eroded back 17 feet with a 2 inch sea level rise by 2025. “In August [2008], consultants with URS Inc. presented a draft report [Somerset County, Maryland : Rising sea level guidance] on sea level rise to the Somerset County
Planning and Zoning Commission. They predicted that by 2025 the
shoreline will be eroded back some 17 feet across the board [with a sea
level rise of 2 inches or 53 mm], increasing to 42 feet by 2050 and 92
feet by 2100. The greatest impact will be in the Deal Island and Chance communities, while Smith Island for the most part will be underwater just 90 years [2098 or ca. 2100] from now. . . .
The URS consultants are basing their report on historical data by
predicting a 2 inch increase in average sea level by 2025, 5 inches by
2050 and one foot by 2100. [Somerset County Technical and Community
Services Director Jack Willing Jr. ] said the state [of Maryland] is
forecasting a two to three foot rise with four feet ‘the worst case
scenario.’ He asked the consultants to modify their report
accordingly. Kyle Gulbronson, the senior planner and project manager
with URS, said four feet ‘is a doomsday scenario’ for much of the
county. The effects "will be dramatic," he said.” (Richard Crumbacker, Crisfield Times, “Storm gives look into the future - Consultants predicted vulnerable areas, and high tide showed it,” Crisfield Times, Crisfield, Maryland, September 10, 2008, pp. 1, 3 reporting findings in URS & RCQuinn Consulting, Inc., "Somerset County, Maryland : Rising sea level guidance,"
a report to the Maryland Coastal Zone Management Program, Department of
Natural Resources pursuant to NOAA Award No. NA05NOS4191142, September
24, 2008, p. 14)
2025. Sea levels projected to rise 1.5 inches to 3.1 inches by the year 2025.
“Sea levels may rise by 1.5 inches to 3.1 inches by the year 2025 from
expansion of ocean water in a warming climate, a prediction says. But
forecasting the total sea level rise will require estimating the
contribution of runoff from melting glaciers, ‘a daunting task,’
researchers said. The projected increase from thermal expansion,
calculated for 1985 to 2025, compares to previous published estimates of
2.3 inches to 4.3 inches, they said. The study [Thermal Expansion of Sea Water Associated with Global Warming] in the British journal Nature, was prepared by Tom Wigley and S.C.B. Raper of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. Mr. Wigley now is working at the National Center for Atmospheric Research
in Boulder, Colo. Changes in sea level are being studied as one
consequence of the ‘greenhouse effect,’ a warming of the global climate
due to a buildup of certain gases in the atmosphere.
Over the
last century, global average temperature has increased by about
nine-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit and sea level has risen by about 4 to
6 inches, the researchers wrote. But the relative contributions of
ocean water expansion and glacial melting are unknown and estimates vary
widely, they said.” (“Rise Forecast In Sea Levels By Year 2025,” The
Journal of Commerce, New York, New York, November 19, 1987, p. 10B
citing findings in Wigley, T.M.L. and Raper, S.C.B., 1987, “Thermal Expansion of Sea Water Associated with Global Warming,” Nature, 330, 127-131, 18 November 1987)
2025. EPA predicts rise in sea levels of 2 feet by 2025.
“The doomsday headlines (Sunbelt Moving North, Warming Spells Disaster)
were unduly alarmist, and much of the information was well known to
scientists. But last week a media brouhaha was triggered by new studies
from the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Academy of
Sciences. Both groups agreed on a startling prognosis: the earth is
warming up from all the carbon dioxide being spilled into the
atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels, and worse, the first effects
of the climatic changes could be felt as early as the 1990s. The EPA
predicted temperature increases of nearly 4° F by the year 2040; a rise
in sea levels of 2 feet by 2025 (thereby inundating some low-lying
areas in coastal cities such as Charleston, S.C., and Galveston,
Texas); and drastically changing rainfall patterns, especially in the
breadbasket areas of the Midwest, where reduced precipitation could
jeopardize crops. Nothing, not even a sharp cutback in the use of
fossil fuels, the EPA added, could alter this climatic course.”
Emphasis added. Global warming 2025. (Frederic Golden and Jay Branegan, “Environment: Hot Times for the Old
Orb,” Time Magazine, Monday, Oct. 31, 1983)
Sea Level Rise Impacts of Arctic and Antarctic Melting
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We have
already reached a tipping point where we will soon see an ice-free
Arctic Ocean in the summer.
There's nothing we can do about
that. It could be in 2015. It could be in 2025. It almost doesn't
matter. It'll happen in this generation.
As a result, the whole weather system could
change. (1)
Director, International Polar Year
July 2009
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2030 | Rising Sea Levels
Although the rise in sea levels will happen gradually, [Gary Griggs, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruz and a member of the committee that produced the report] said, its destructive power will be felt first when storms hit vulnerable places such as Newport Beach and the San Francisco Bay. ‘In the short term it's these severe storms in low-lying areas that are most problematic,’ Griggs said.” ” (Tony Barboza, “California sea levels to rise 5-plus feet this century, study says,” Los Angeles Times, Sunday, June 24, 2012 reporting findings of Committee on Sea Level Rise, Dalrymple et al, Sea-Level Rise for the Coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington: Past, Present, and Future, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, National Academies Press, Washington, DC, Friday, June 22, 2012)
2020 - 2030 - 2040. Time frame when Arctic ice mass may completely melt. “The ice mass in the Arctic might melt completely sometime between 2020 and 2040, causing Greenland to turn, well, green. ‘If that happens,’ says Larry J. Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, ‘sea levels would eventually rise over 14 feet higher.’ That would flood millions of people across the planet.” (Rick Telander, “Time to warm up to reality,” Chicago Sun-Times, January 4, 2008)
Sea Level Increases in California, Oregon & Washington
The Pacific Coast of the Western United States has already experienced large waves and surges at high tides that have exceeded mean sea levels expected for the end of this century. For the next several decades (2012 - 2020 - 2030 - 2040), these large wave events pose a greater hazard to the West Coast than the longer term climate-driven rise expected by the year 2100. The impacts of these large wave surges are likely to become more frequent and greater in magnitude.
2040 | Sea Level Rise
2040. Two foot sea level rise projected for Ventura County, California coastline by 2040. “Rising sea levels over the next 50 years could swamp hotels, power plants, the Point Mugu military base and as many as 4,100 low-lying houses along the Ventura County [California] coastline during big storms [Pierpoint Bay, Ventura Harbor, Edison Power Plant, Oxnard Shores, Hollywood Beach, Channel Islands Harbor, Silver Strand, Port of Hueneme, Hueneme Beach, Ormond Beach, Point Mugu], according to a new study of global warming by a USC research team. . . .
Researchers [led by Angela Constable, lead author of the climate change
report], who studied Ventura County as a model for California's coastal
communities, said they expect a sea-level rise of about 2 feet by 2040,
and that local governments' reaction to the threats of sea rise and
beach erosion will determine how much damage actually occurs.” (Daryl
Kelley, Times Staff Writer, “Study Envisions Rising Sea Levels, Disaster
- Global warming: USC team says 2-foot rise by 2040 could threaten
roads and thousands of local coastal houses if steps aren't taken,” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, March 16, 1997 reporting findings in Angela Constable, Maurice D. Van Arsdol, Jr., Jiankiang Wang, Pamela A. McMullin-Messier, and Louise Rollin, “Demographic Responses to Sea Level Rise in California,” World Resource Review, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1997, pp. 32-44). [See Constable et al map of projected Ventura County sea level rise.]
2050 | Rising Sea Levels
2050. Several feet. Sea level projected to rise several feet by the year 2050. “Whether the greenhouse effect has arrived or not, some scientists calculate that global temperatures could increase between 3 degrees and 9 degrees F by the year 2050. If that happens, even hotter, dryer summers are on the way, probably accompanied by a gradual melting of polar ice caps and glaciers that will cause sea levels to rise several feet by mid-century. By then it is probable that more CO2 production, from sources as diverse as industry and rampant deforestation, will play an increasingly important role in heating up the earth.” (David Brand, Andrea Dorfman-New York and Dick Thompson-Washington, “Is The Earth Warming Up?,” Time Magazine, Monday, July 4, 1988)
2050. Rising sea levels projected to inundate coastlines where millions
live. "Although scientists argue over whether the greenhouse
has already arrived, there is no dispute that industrial emissions will
cause global warming. The chief culprits are carbon dioxide (CO2),
emitted when such fossil fuels as coal and oil burn, and chemicals
called CFC's used in plastic foams and air conditioning. These
'greenhouse gases' act like panes of glass, trapping heat near the
surface of the earth. The result: global temperatures are expected to
rise 2 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit by the middle of the next century. There
would be greater increases at higher latitudes, smaller rises near the
equator. Wind and rainfall patterns would shift, with possibly
disastrous consequences for agriculture. Sea levels would rise,
inundating coastlines where millions of people live. Droughts would get
worse and storms more violent." (Newsweek, May 22, 1989, p. 80)
2100 | Global Warming Sea Level
2100 (1.5 to 7 feet). Global warming projected to cause 1.5 – 7 feet sea level rise by 2100. “Published estimates of sea level rise due to global warming generally range from 0.5 to 2.0 meters (1.5 to 7 feet) by 2100.” (U.S. EPA, The Potential Effects of Global Climate Change on the United States, EPA-230-05-89-050, Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, December 1989, p. xxxvi)
2100. California study assumes a possible 4.6-foot sea level rise by 2100. “A California report assumes a possible 4.6-foot rise by 2100, while the Dutch assume a 2.5-foot rise by 2050 in the design of their tidal gates.” (Rob Young and Orrin Pilkey, “How High Will Seas Rise? Get Ready for Seven Feet,” Yale Environment 360, January 14, 2010)
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