The Rising Seas… A tale of the deep blue.

The Rising Seas…A tale of the deep blue. By: Mike Crewe

Sea Levels • Terminology • Melting Ice • Global Warming • The Moon • How Much is it Really Rising? • Effects on Land • Future Damage • What we can do. http://www.flickr.com/photos/10085373@N08/1876984873/

Jargon • Ice Age – Period of time where large scale Ice sheets exist in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere • Glacier – Big, slow moving, mass of Ice. • Ice Sheet – Large amount of Glacier Ice (>20,000 miles²) • Ice Shelf – Glacier/Ice sheet that flows into the water • Sea Ice – Frozen ocean water • Albedo– an objects ability to diffusely reflect light • King Tide/Spring Tide – Very high tide • Neap Tide – Very low tide

Melting Ice • Vast majority of freshwater locked away in Ice Sheets and Glaciers - Antarctica’s Ice sheets alone contain enough water to raise the sea level 57 meters. • Sea Ice doesn’t raise the sea level • North Pole – Ice surrounded by landhttp://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/climate/sea_level_rise.html • Antarctica – Land Surrounded by ice - More Ice keeps breaking off and melting, less than is precipitated onto the mainland

http://www.greendiary.com/images/effect_of_global_warming_on_west_antarctic_ice_sheet_.jpghttp://www.greendiary.com/images/effect_of_global_warming_on_west_antarctic_ice_sheet_.jpg

Ekstroem Ice Shelf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Shelf-ice_edge_hg.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Glacier-ice_shelf_interactions.svghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Glacier-ice_shelf_interactions.svg

Hot things expand? • Its true! • Thermal Expansion – As objects absorb heat, they expand • Water is most dense at 4° C • There’s approximately 50,000,000 cubes km of water in the surface layer of the ocean • If 1 Liter of 20° C was heated 1° C, its volume would increase by .21 mm • Translate that to the whole ocean

Tides • Caused by the Moon (and Sun) • Raise and lower water levels • Spring Tide/Neap Tides combined with raises in sea levels = dangerous • Floods/Draughts land http://www.softekinc.net/images/jw_moon_yankee_rcx_color.jpg

Bay of Fundy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bay_of_Fundy_Low_Tide.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bay_of_Fundy_High_Tide.jpg

Why’s that happen? http://www.mbgnet.net/salt/sandy/indexfr.htm

Raise per Year • Ocean rise changes depending on where you are • Average about 1.8mm per year • Can change based on a number of factors • Estimated to reach values of 90-880 mm or rise over the next century (only the latter by substantial glacier melt)

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Recent_Sea_Level_Rise_pnghttp://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Recent_Sea_Level_Rise_png

Damage to land Tuvalu and London In the same sinking boat. http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/pages/rising-seas.html

Look Familiar?

Summary • Glaciers be meltin,yo • Thermal expansion of water is the leading cause of the sea rise currently • Tides can amplify the effects of raised sea levels • Where would all the people displaced by ruined land and homes go? • Go green! http://bristolgreenparty.org.uk/images/green_logo.jpg

Works Cited • Flannery, T. (2005). The Weather Makers: How We Are Changing the Climate and What it Means for Life on Earth. Canada: HarperCollins. • http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/ Nov. 2008 • http://en.wikipedia.org/ Nov. 2008 • http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/ResourceCenterPublicationsSeaLevelRiseIndex.html Nov. 2008 • http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/climate/sea_level_rise.html Nov. 2008 • http://epa.gov/climatechange/effects/coastal/slrreports.html Nov. 2008 • http://www.mbgnet.net/salt/sandy/indexfr.htm Nov. 2008 • Williams, N. 2007. New fears on sea-level rise. Current Biology, Vol. 17, Issues 15, R572.

The Rising Seas… A tale of the deep blue.