Rising Seas - Part 1

With all these threats of imminent melting icecaps and glaciers we are also constantly bombarded with images and threats of rising seas and oceans. As can be seen by “The Greens”, West Australian State election poster from 2008 (top ). The two buildings are Perth’s tallest. Also by the stock press photo’s of Bangladesh (middle) and the Pacific Island of Tuvalu (bottom).

We are told of all sorts of figures to expect from this sea level rises ranging from a hundred metres to only a few centimetres at it’s worst. As seen by this exchange between Andrew Bolt and the ABC Science program’s Robyn Williams:

Andrew Bolt: ……Professor Mike Archer, dean of engineering at the University of NSW...

Robyn Williams: Dean of science.

Andrew Bolt: Dean of science...suggesting rising seas this next century of up to 100 metres, or Al Gore six metres. When I see things like that I know these are false. You mentioned the IPCC report; that suggests, at worst on best scenarios, 59 centimetres.

Robyn Williams: Well, whether you take the surge or whether you take the actual average rise are different things.

Andrew Bolt: I ask you, Robyn, 100 metres in the next century...do you really think that?

Robyn Williams: It is possible, yes. The increase of melting that they've noticed in Greenland and the amount that we've seen from the western part of Antarctica, if those increases of three times the expected rate continue, it will be huge, but the question...


Again does the scientific observed and recorded evidence support the hype of the climate modellers and media? It would appear not:

Take Bangladesh:

New research shows Bangladesh may not be as vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by climate change as previously feared, scientists in Dhaka say.

They say satellite images show the country's landmass is actually growing because of sediment dumped by rivers.

…Satellite images of Bangladesh over the past 32 years show that the country is growing annually by about 20 square kilometres (7.72 square miles).

…This was due, he said, to the billion tonnes of sediment that the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and 200 other rivers bring from the Himalayas each year before crossing Bangladesh.

…in the next 50 years this could add up to the country gaining 1,000 square kilometres.

But those that say that Bangladesh is sinking do they too rely on the highly accurate data derived from the satellite readings? It would appear not. They prefer to rely on the memories passed between generations of Bangladeshi coastal villagers:

Dr Atiq Rahman, a lead author of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, told the BBC that there was little in the new research to make him think that their projection needed revising.

He said that many people living along the coast had observed that sea levels where higher now than in their grandparents' day.