Scientists will warn this week that rising sea levels, triggered by global warming, pose a far greater danger to the planet than previously estimated.
There is now a major risk that many coastal areas around the world will be inundated by the end of the century because Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are melting faster than previously estimated.
Low-lying areas, such as Bangladesh, Florida, the Maldives and the Netherlands face catastrophic flooding, while in Britain, the Thames estuary is likely to disappear by 2100. Cities like London will need new flood defences.
"It is now clear that there are going to be massive flooding disasters around the globe," said Dr David Vaughan, of the British Antarctic Survey.
"Populations are shifting to the coast, which means that more and more people are going to be threatened by sea-level rises."
The issue is set to dominate the opening sessions of the international climate change conference in Copenhagen this week, when scientists will outline their latest findings on a host of issues concerning global warming.
The meeting has been organised to set the agenda for this December's international climate talks (also to be in Copenhagen), which will draw up a treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol for limiting carbon dioxide emissions.
The numbers I have seen are that sea levels are rising at the astounding rate of 3.3 mm a year. That is a foot a century.
ReplyDeleteThe number of drowning victims will be incalculable. Hundreds of millions who sleep by the sea shore for thirty years at a time (kind of like bear hibernation only longer) will die. And the trouble is that once they go into hibernation they can't be awakened.
We will have to create an army of trucks to pick them up and haul them off before they die. It is all too horrible to contemplate.
No one who has ever faced sea levels rising at the rate of .1" a year has ever lived.
If everyone who was concerned about the problem stopped eating and exhaling for two months straight it would be a big help.
Bussard's IEC Fusion Technology (Polywell Fusion) Explained
Why hasn't Polywell Fusion been fully funded by the Obama administration?