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left-of-center2012

(34,195 posts)
Wed Feb 16, 2022, 12:06 PM Feb 2022

Sea level to rise one foot along U.S. coastlines by 2050, government report finds

The shorelines of the United States are projected to face an additional foot of rising seas over the next three decades, intensifying the threat of flooding and erosion to coastal communities across the country, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Human-caused climate change, driven mostly by the burning of fossil fuels, has accelerated global sea level rise to the fastest rate in more than 3,000 years. The report by NOAA, NASA and five other federal agencies — updating a study from 2017 — predicts that ocean levels along U.S. coasts will increase as much by 2050 as they did over the past century.

Looking ahead to the end of the century, the amount of planet-warming pollution people release into the atmosphere could mean the difference between sea levels stabilizing at about two feet above the historical average or surging by almost eight feet, NOAA reports.

“This report is a wake-up call for the U.S., but it’s a wake-up call with a silver lining,” NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad told journalists in a teleconference Tuesday. “It provides us with information needed to act now to best position ourselves for the future.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/02/15/sea-level-rise-2050-climate/

On June 1, 2017, United States President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would cease all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation,
contending that the agreement would "undermine" the U.S. economy, and put the U.S. "at a permanent disadvantage."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_withdrawal_from_the_Paris_Agreement

9 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Sea level to rise one foot along U.S. coastlines by 2050, government report finds (Original Post) left-of-center2012 Feb 2022 OP
Catastrophic jpak Feb 2022 #1
Florida Johnny2X2X Feb 2022 #2
So you're saying that climate change has a silver lining? lagomorph777 Feb 2022 #3
I'm guessing Floridians will feel the impact of climate change on their insurance rates much sooner. Bleacher Creature Feb 2022 #5
Florida is flat...I wonder how far inland an extra foot of water goes? Buckeyeblue Feb 2022 #8
Nearly thirty years just for one foot of sea level rise? PoindexterOglethorpe Feb 2022 #4
1 foot is insane! Johnny2X2X Feb 2022 #6
My guess is that we'll achieve that thirty feet PoindexterOglethorpe Feb 2022 #7
That's not even possible Johnny2X2X Feb 2022 #9

Johnny2X2X

(18,745 posts)
2. Florida
Wed Feb 16, 2022, 12:19 PM
Feb 2022

Florida is going to be a mess. And 1 foot is the start, 2 feet after that if we do the right things seems the minimum, 8 feet if we continue to largely ignore the problem. Florida might be mostly gone in 100 years, it might be a series of islands.

Bleacher Creature

(11,237 posts)
5. I'm guessing Floridians will feel the impact of climate change on their insurance rates much sooner.
Wed Feb 16, 2022, 01:03 PM
Feb 2022

The Florida electorate should be a case study on voting against your own best interests.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,750 posts)
4. Nearly thirty years just for one foot of sea level rise?
Wed Feb 16, 2022, 12:43 PM
Feb 2022

That sounds very optimistic, especially given how quickly glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland are melting. Every time they take another look at them, they are melting faster.

Johnny2X2X

(18,745 posts)
6. 1 foot is insane!
Wed Feb 16, 2022, 01:46 PM
Feb 2022

They were talking about how a few inches would be a big deal, 1 foot absolutely puts large parts of major US cities under water.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,750 posts)
7. My guess is that we'll achieve that thirty feet
Wed Feb 16, 2022, 05:28 PM
Feb 2022

by 2030.

Anyone who already lives less than 50 feet above sea level needs to seriously think about moving to higher ground.

Johnny2X2X

(18,745 posts)
9. That's not even possible
Wed Feb 16, 2022, 07:14 PM
Feb 2022

30 feet isn’t happening. 5 feet will be catastrophic and a billion people or more will be displaced.

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