Global warming 'past the point of no return' - Page 15

papa smurf · 31-01-2009, 14:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek S

I wish it would hurry up and kick in. I'm freezing right now!

i asked my Eco warrior mate about that he said its just a side effect ,its actually still warm.

my stove however thinks its cold outside brrrrr

31-01-2009, 21:19

I really am not worrying about something i can't do a thing about and have always believed that if we are solely to blame for this which i highly doubt that our solution to it is going to have to be technological not lifestyle and that view hasn't changed. For those that call for heavy lifestyle taxes on the british people to "fight climate change" er yeah ok now back to reality if the UK became carbon neutral tomorrow it makes sod all difference to the global situation so get off the soap boxes.

13-11-2009, 00:20

Bump.......

Quote:

The Greenland ice sheet is losing its mass faster than in previous years and making an increasing contribution to sea level rise, a study has confirmed.

Not so good news on this front. Maybe our generation will not suffer the consequences, but your offspring might

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8357537.stm

ntluser · 13-11-2009, 08:40

The problem is that there is no real commitment or organised plan to deal with these issues globally.

World governments are all dithering over action because they want to protect their economies.

What they fail to realise is that without an environment, there will be no economy.

I wonder what action the UK government has taken to prepare for rising water levels given that much of our coastline is at sea-level? At the moment, they can't even cope with inland flooding like we had in Tewkesbury.

We need to be dredging rivers, building up coastal defences etc now because prevention is better than cure.

Once the coastal flooding starts it will be too late and we will have a real problem on our hands.

**Maggy** · 13-11-2009, 08:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by ntluser

The problem is that there is no real commitment or organised plan to deal with these issues globally.

World governments are all dithering over action because they want to protect their economies.

What they fail to realise is that without an environment, there will be no economy.

I wonder what action the UK government has taken to prepare for rising water levels given that much of our coastline is at sea-level? At the moment, they can't even cope with inland flooding like we had in Tewkesbury.

We need to be dredging rivers, building up coastal defences etc now because prevention is better than cure.

Once the coastal flooding starts it will be too late and we will have a real problem on our hands.

Can I ask why we would be getting coastal flooding?

**Chris** · 13-11-2009, 10:16

As sea levels rise, it doesn't require quite so much of a storm surge for a flood to occur.

ntluser · 13-11-2009, 11:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Can I ask why we would be getting coastal flooding?

The ice caps are melting. Sea levels are rising globally.

Coastal erosion is already affecting the south coast.Some coastal areas are already experiencing flooding.

Reports from round the world show that this is a global problem:-

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/cede_sealevel/

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-n...1027-hhij.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7945877.stm

http://www.physorg.com/news151938896.html

Some low-lying islands have already been flooded and the population have had to be evacuated.

http://www.earth-policy.org/index.ph...s/2001/update2

Given that no-one is reporting that the ice caps have reformed and no intervention has worked so far, we can only assume that the trend will continue.

chris9991 · 13-11-2009, 11:35

I did hear on Material World that because the sea temperatures as rising that sea levels will also rise due to expansion.

**Chris** · 13-11-2009, 15:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris9991

I did hear on Material World that because the sea temperatures as rising that sea levels will also rise due to expansion.

It's a very complex calculation, because water doesn't behave like most materials when its temperature changes. Ice has a greater volume than cold water. So sea-borne ice, when it melts, takes up less room than it did when it was ice.

There is no land under the north pole - it is all sea ice. So the sea levels are not going to shoot upwards as a result of it melting. However, if the north pole becomes ice-free it presents another big problem in the reduced albedo effect (reduced reflection of solar radiation back into space). Water tends to absorb solar radiation while ice reflects it. So once the arctic ice is gone, the rate of warming will increase.

Then there are big problems from elsewhere, i.e. glaciers permafrost melting on land and flowing into the seas. This is water that wasn't in the oceans to start with, so whatever temperature it's at, its going to add to the overall volume.

TheDaddy · 13-11-2009, 16:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by ntluser

The ice caps are melting. Sea levels are rising globally.

The sea levels aren't rising because the ice caps are melting, the volume of water remains the same whether it's frozen or not, the problem is all the mountain snow and ice that's melting in places like the Andes and running into the sea from rivers.

**Maggy** · 13-11-2009, 16:04

Has anyone managed to work out by how much the sea levels will rise?

chris9991 · 13-11-2009, 16:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

It's a very complex calculation, because water doesn't behave like most materials when its temperature changes. Ice has a greater volume than cold water. So sea-borne ice, when it melts, takes up less room than it did when it was ice.

There is no land under the north pole - it is all sea ice. So the sea levels are not going to shoot upwards as a result of it melting. However, if the north pole becomes ice-free it presents another big problem in the reduced albedo effect (reduced reflection of solar radiation back into space). Water tends to absorb solar radiation while ice reflects it. So once the arctic ice is gone, the rate of warming will increase.

Then there are big problems from elsewhere, i.e. glaciers permafrost melting on land and flowing into the seas. This is water that wasn't in the oceans to start with, so whatever temperature it's at, its going to add to the overall volume.

I've heard all those in the past as well - I guess we'll have to wait and see what the final effect is

---------- Post added at 15:10 ---------- Previous post was at 15:08 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Has anyone managed to work out by how much the sea levels will rise?

Hopefully not too much. I think a lot depends on where you measure the initial level. Apparently because of the last Ice Age the South coast of the UK is also sinking at slow rate so that effect would need to be negated.

12noon · 13-11-2009, 23:41

For some reason they want to move over to electric powered cars, yet at the same time the adverts on TV are telling us to cut back on our use of electric. I think that us at home can do very little, but a switch over to cleaner ways of producing electric could help a bit.

Global warming is happening and the Maldives are in a panic. I think government money should be pumped into wind farms and other ways of making green electric. Lets cut back on Oil, coal and gas and get works and factories to be greener.

**Chris** · 14-11-2009, 12:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by 12noon

For some reason they want to move over to electric powered cars,

Because it's easier and cheaper to deal with pollution when it's all being generated in one place, i.e. at a power station rather than from tens of thousands of individual vehicles, and because our domestic electricity production is moving (slowly at the moment, but with increasing speed) towards low-carbon generation.

If you run a car on fossil fuel, then that car will always have a significant carbon footprint. If you run it on electricity, then the car's CO2 footprint can be reduced by generating the electricity from wind, wave, solar or nuclear power, or possibly by so-called 'clean coal' generation, assuming that can ever be made to work on a commercial scale.

Quote:

yet at the same time the adverts on TV are telling us to cut back on our use of electric.

Because at the moment a lot of electricity used at home is wasted. There's a lot of room for improvement (turning off lights, not leaving things on standby, etc).

ntluser · 14-11-2009, 16:50

Just as an aside, what happens if the stable ice caps do melt and instead of being fixed at the poles as ice the resultant melt water flows about over the earth's surface?

Will this have implications for the tilt and spinning of the Earth?