Tag Archives: storm surge

Arctic sea ice melting faster than expected —WMO

A major source of the water for the

sea level rise already affecting Savannah and Jacksonville
is melting Arctic Ocean sea ice.

WMO Press Release No. 966:
2012: Record Arctic Sea Ice Melt, Multiple Extremes and High Temperatures,

“Naturally occurring climate variability due to phenomena such
as El Niño and La Niña impact on temperatures and precipitation on
a seasonal to annual scale. But they do not alter the underlying
long-term trend of rising temperatures due to climate change as a
result of human activities,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel
Jarraud.

“The extent of Arctic sea ice reached a new record low. The
alarming rate of its melt this year highlighted the far-reaching
changes taking place on Earth’s oceans and biosphere. Climate change
is taking place before our eyes and will continue to do so as a
result of the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,
which have risen constantly and again reached new records,”
added Mr Jarraud.


30 years of Arctic sea ice

15 September 1982 vs 16 September 2012

The Arctic reached its lowest annual sea ice extent since the start
of satellite records on 16 September at 3.41 million square
kilometers. This was 18% less than the previous record low of 18
September, 2007. The 2012 minimum extent was 49 percent or nearly
3.3 million square kilometers (nearly the size of India) below the
1979—2000 average minimum. Some 11.83 million square
kilometers of Arctic ice melted between March and September 2012.

WMO noted other effects of climate change outside the arctic, including:

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Savannah and Jacksonville most vulnerable to rising sea level

Savannah and Jacksonville are among the east coast cities most vulnerable
to rising sea levels due to climate change, a study finds.
Savannah, Georgia’s main seaport, with storm surges, hurricanes,
and waves on top:
what will that look like?

Suzanne Goldenberg wrote for the Guardian today,

US coastal cities in danger as sea levels rise faster than expected, study warns:
Satellite measurements show flooding from storms like Sandy will put low-lying population centres at risk sooner than projected,

A

study published last March by Climate Central found sea-level rise
due to global warming had already doubled the risk of extreme flood
events — so-called once in a century floods — for dozens
of locations up and down the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

It singled out the California cities of Los Angeles and San Diego on
the Pacific coast and Jacksonville, Florida, and Savannah, Georgia,
on the Atlantic, as the most vulnerable to historic flooding due to
sea-level rise.

Sandy, which produced a 9ft storm surge at Battery Park in New York
City, produced one example of the dangerous combination of storm
surges and rising sea level. In New York, each additional foot of
water puts up to 100,000 additional people at risk, according to a
map published with the study.

That study projected 6 inches rise at Fort Pulaski by 2030 (minimum 3 inches)
and 13 inches by 2050 (maximum 24 inches).
But projections have gotten worse since then:


Sea level changes measured and projected
The latest research,

published on Wednesday in Environmental Research Letters,
found global sea-levels rising at a rate of 3.2mm a year, compared to the best estimates by the IPCC of 2mm a year, or 60% faster.

So that would be more like 9 inches by 2030 and 20 inches by 2050.

Add to a higher base sea level bigger storms like Hurricane Sandy,
and Savannah and Jacksonville have a problem.
Sure, Savannah is

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