Tag Archives: sea level

Antartica: Western Ice First – Now in the East A Threat of Massive Sea Level Rise

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THE HEADLINE:  “An Antarctic deja vu”

The free paper at the Metro station on March 17 reveals the natural world is MELTING in the background.  You don’t see it, but it’s happening. Something a bit off kilter? The world coming to an end of its present self? A concern?

The Bible says it will be wars and rumors of wars that are the big clue to the end of days … but our environs are changing and threaten to sneak up on us with still other dramatic surprises.  Normal days will end and abnormal days will be upon us as sea levels alter the map over the entire face of the globe. We see it coming, eyes wide open, but stare at the blinding light of global change like deer paralyzed by headlights of on coming car … WHACK!  Then it hits us … but in this case coastal cities in the modern world will be the new watery Venice and Venice will be inundated and condemned by submergence.

The article gives us reason for calm by saying we won’t see the ‘WHACK’ in our lifetime. The process of sea level rise may take some time.  So lets go burn more fossil fuels and make some more heat! Yet our world won’t be the same for our kids, because sea level rise seems certain and from global human activity we “…have irreversibly destabilized the great ice sheet of West Antarctica and thus set in motion more than 10 feet of sea level rise.”

Read on … because the free paper’s article leaves out something provocative and alarming …

The Sub Header: “Ice in west may cause a massive sea level rise. Now the east threatens, too”

When ice at the South Pole melts, this is what to expect: “Meanwhile, 2015 could be the year of the double whammy – when we learned the same about one gigantic glacier of East Antarctica, which could set in motion roughly the same amount all over again. Northern Hemisphere residents and Americans in particular should take note: When the bottom of the world loses vast amounts of ice, those of us living closer to its top get more sea level rise than the rest of the planet, thanks to the law of gravity.”

In the East of Antarctica is … “the Totten Glacier of East Antarctica – the fastest thinning sector of the world’s largest ice sheet – and [scientists] took a variety of measurements to try to figure out the reasons behind its retreat. And the news wasn’t good: It appears that Totten, too, is losing ice because warm ocean water is getting underneath it.”

Added to the Western ice and a potential 10 feet of sea level rise, the Western “… glacier holds back a much more vast catchment of ice that, were its vulnerable parts to flow into the ocean, could produce a sea level rise of more than 11 feet – which is comparable to the impact from a loss of the West Antarctica ice sheet.”

HERE is the Kicker as they say … 

First, what goes on at the southern pole is only part of the story.  Up north, the Greenland ice sheet is also melting, shifting, and adding to sea level rise, now. The article on Antartica suggests some 20 plus feet of sea level rise … add to that what Greenland has to add and the ‘not in our lifetime’ might not hold up if the rate of ice melt increases – globally!

Second, and perhaps more universally than at the South Pole alone, scientist worry about an unstoppable melt … “The problem, then, is that once such a gigantic geophysical process begins, it’s hard to see how it comes to a halt. “With warming oceans, it’s difficult to see how a process that starts now would be reversed, or reversible, in a warming world,” Siegert said.”

CONVERGENCE IS UPON US

The WindowView web pages all hinge on the idea that changes in the globe, evidence from the sciences, and the harmony in Scripture all reveal something certain … foretold, hedging humanity into humility and to the point of bending a knee and acknowledging we were put here not to glorify ourselves, but instead to recognize the One who gave us life in the first place. The Earth cannot bear us any longer. We are wearing out the planet like a coat going thread bare … with no place to escape to, we are destined to face the ultimate truth … and God knows what that is. (no, that is not a pun, it is in fact truth)

Quotations from the March 17, 2015 Express (Washington, DC)

Director, WindowView.org

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Raising Estimates on Sea Level Rise

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“A team of Rutgers University researchers has attempted to answer that question and localize it by studying past sea-level rise along the East Coast, as well as other factors that could influence what happens along the New Jersey Shore.

In recently published studies, they conclude that sea level at the Shore – already rising faster than at any time in the last 4,300 years – could go up by 11 to 15 inches more than the global average by 2100.

While levels worldwide will generally increase less than a foot by 2050, those at the Shore will likely rise 1.5 feet, according to a mid-range scenario. By 2100, local levels could climb 3.5 feet, bringing unprecedented flooding.”

Quotation above from Full article

Why is sea level rise important?  Our answer: because the topic of change affects every living being on the planet. And if that is linked to what life is and will be in the future, then change heightens our senses concerning a deeper look at the value and meaning of life itself.

The underlying position one can adopt from time spent looking through the ‘window’ is that driving forces in material and mind open one’s spirit to seeing life in the context of purpose and a future. Too many people either don’t take time to look at their life in the context of our origins, information from both science and Scripture, and further make too many conclusions by assumptions. Global change is one aspect of the multiple perspectives one gains by a good long look. You are alive … here … now, so why not look if indeed the WindowView reveals something special about life and that you are not here by chance.

Director. WindowView.org

 

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When It Looks Like It’s Getting Better …

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… It isn’t necessarily so! Really good news is bad news. Why?

New energy reserves are coming globally in the form of natural gas in areas formerly considered out of production, oil from fields labeled the same way, oil sands and oil shale in areas previously thought too costly to process. Never mind any questions about renewable energy technology or use of carbon based fuels on climate change … The world has received a carbon-energy injection releasing us of near future energy reserve depletion. Consider the following news clip:
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HEADLINE: U.S. oil boom leaves OPEC sidelined from demand growth – Reuters
Rising U.S. shale oil production will help meet most of the world’s new oil demand in the next five years, even if the global economy picks up steam, leaving little room for OPEC to lift output without risking lower prices, the West’s energy agency said.
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WindowView is a ‘thinking place in cyber space.’ So think about this! The energy supply leaves humanity temporarily euphoric and free of concerns that would restrict material economies … But at the same time the source of relief is the problem. A blind eye will be turned to consequences as long as markets are on the rise or stable. But who has the money to pay for the consequences to come? Cash strapped governments? You?

Consider this: Sea level rise already spurred by climate change will only accelerate as carbon dioxide rises further from carbon fuel use. Sea level rise means coastal flooding, over 800 Million persons globally will need to move, dikes, walls and dams will need to be built. If not that, new homes, new towns, new infrastructure, new expenses to tax humanity for a global result of change. Who cares how it happened! Who will pay? Diseases will rise as invading waters complicate coastal life. Local economies and forms of employment will change … the entire shift will unsettle life on planet earth … human and all other.

The theme of the window is “Science and Scripture in Harmony.” If you look objectively through the window, have some understanding of how our material dilemmas lead to a spiritual side to being, then this theme rings true. We invite you to sit at your window, look, think and know the future is still ahead of all of us.

Director, WindowView.org

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