Letter: What is sea level rise all about?
Sea level rise is of extreme importance to those of us living along the coast of Virginia. We need to know if it’s real or just hype. We also need to know the cause and if anything can be done to prevent it.
The answer to the first question is two-fold. Yes it is real and yes it is being hyped. Most of the misinformation on climate change and sea level rise is coming from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). They publish updated reports at intervals of five to seven years. Much of the data revealed in these reports is disingenuous and tailored to fit the IPCC fraud of manmade global warming. An example of that can be found in the latest UN IPCC AR5 report which claims an increasing rate of sea level rise from 1971 to 2010. Compare that with a new update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration obtained from its Global Network Stations showing unchanging linear trends in sea level rise worldwide. Many of NOAA’s records show 100 year or longer measurement duration periods. The bottom line is this; actual measured data from NOAA does not support IPCC’s claim of an increase in the rate of the sea level rise. The tidal station at Sewells Point has shown a constant sea level rise of 0.17 inch per year for many years.
When considering cause and corrective actions we must first address what is not causing a rise in sea level. There is no evidence that shows that melting glaciers and polar ice cause any rise. In fact there is ample evidence that Antarctic ice is at a record level even though a small peninsula on the western coasts has experienced some melting caused by shifting ocean currents. Arctic ice experienced 50 percent recovery in 2013. So then what is the cause? It is mostly caused by land subsidence (sinking) as a result of extraction of excessive amounts of ground water and petroleum from the earth. There does not seem to be a remedy other than regulating those extractions.