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The Editor speaks: Aren’t our leaders concerned about the rising sea levels?

Colin Wilson

Have you heard a peep from anyone in government about the rising sea levels?

Whether they are worried about it?

Whether it is out of their hands so they can’t do anything about it?

Whether there are any plans in place to look at all the buildings built close to the sea and to recommend protective measures?

Whether they have read The 29th Annual State of the Climate report, compiled by NOAA’s Center for Weather and Climate at the National Centers for Environmental Information and published last in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society last Monday (12)?

In case they haven’t here are the main findings of the report:

“2018 was one of the hottest years on record, and every year since the turn of the 21st century has been hotter than any of the past century;

The combined direct warming influence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is now nearly 43% stronger than in 1990;

Global carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations reached a record 407.4 parts per million. The prevalence of other major greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, also increased in 2018;

As of 2018, the world’s glaciers have collectively lost mass 30 years in a row;

In March 2018, first-year ice (which is especially prone to summer melting) accounted for up to 77% of the ice cover, as compared to typically 55% during the spring peaks of the 1980s;

Global sea surface temperatures in 2018 were 0.33°C above the 1980–2010 average – not as hot as 2016, but enough to sustain the continued trend of 0.10°C increase per decade since 1950 and the acceleration of the trend in this century;

This heating extends to the depths: global ocean heat content from the surface down to 700 metres set a record again in 2018;

For the seventh year in a row, global annual mean sea level reached a record height as tracked in the 26 years of measurements using remote sensing by satellites.

Tropical cyclones were well above average overall. There were 95 named tropical cyclones across all ocean basins in 2018, well above the 1981–2010 average of 82. Eleven tropical cyclones reached the Saffir–Simpson scale Category 5 intensity level. This was only one less than the record of 12 Category 5 tropical cyclones in 1997

The report is composed of six main chapters: Global Climate, Global Oceans, The Tropics, The Arctic, Antarctica and Regional Climates.”

“Central America and the Caribbean

Jamaica observed its highest annual average maximum temperature since records began in 1971, while the Bahamas reported its fifth highest annual average maximum temperature. Conversely, the annual average maximum temperature for Barbados was its third lowest.

Coral reef bleaching associated with above-average sea surface temperatures, occurred across much of the Caribbean during July–September.”

You can read the whole report at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/reporting-state-climate-2018

So can everyone in government.

I am worried. You should be worried. However, our government leaders don’t seem to be concerned at all.

2 COMMENTS

  1. I really wish journalists would actually do research on all sides of this debate (yes there is still debate on this subject by many actual scientists), as opposed to just propagating the narrative as a matter of fact.

    There are thousands of scientists that dispute the “consensus/opinion” that the seas have risen or that the globe is warming due to human activities.

    The seas have NOT risen 4-6 inches since 1970 in Cayman! (20 centimeters since 1900) I have been living on the water for many decades and studied tides and water levels all my life. This is complete and utter rubbish.

    Here is a good starting point: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000frolly of many actual scientist who disagree.

    And yes YouTube have real scientists on its platform despite what the doomsday fanatics will say. You be the judge of the speakers on this channel. I’m not suggesting you all agree with any of this, I am suggesting that you should be informed about the positions out there and report on them accurately and not presume this is a foregone conclusion because it isn’t.

    The consensus is not based on the scientific method, its merely opinion (of very well funded groups)

    • Thank you for that. I NEVER said the sea level here have risen 4-6 inches. However if the ice is melting (and I don’t think anyone can argue with that) at the poles then the sea must rise, unless – and because the years are becoming warmer (and I don’t think anyone can argue with that) the evaporation of the water into the atmosphere is compensating for it?

      Hopefully you can tell me more on that as I cannot find any journalistic/scientific information on that.

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