Sea level rising in Delaware

DRC Archive Environmental and Other Science Discussion
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Sea level rising in Delaware
By Jim Hilgen

Updated Thursday, November 10, 2011 - 9:58am

http://www.wdel.com/story.php?id=38772

Delaware’s Sea Level Rise Advisory Committee is educating residents on the possible impacts of increasing sea levels.

WDEL’s Jim Hilgen reports.

The advisory committee is working on a report on the potential impact of rising sea levels in the state, and will be making recommendations to offset those effects based on various sea level rise scenarios.

The latest data shows the sea level in Delaware is rising about 3.5 millimeters a year.

DNREC’s Susan Love says those numbers mean trouble for the state.

“That’s twice the global rate of 1.7 mm per year. That’s because in Delaware, in addition to the seas rising up, Delaware is actually sinking, or subsiding, due to geologic forces.”

Love says things may get even worse.

“Scientists believe that it is very likely that the sea level rise is going to accelerate, in part due to global climate change and atmospheric carbon.”

This information, and much more is on display as DNREC and members of the sea level rise committee hold informational forums around the state through the end of November.

Love says the committee wants public input as it gets ready to propose its recommendations for planning around sea level rise.

She says all the pertinent information will be available next week online on DNREC’s webpage.

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Crap that’s just great I love this state but things seem to be taking turns that are going to impact us all.

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during 15-20 years of fishing at the jersey shore, I noted a distinct change in the mean sea level. the barnacle line on marina bulkheads slowly rose a few inches along with the average tide. I would note they were below a bolt in the wall when i first fished there, and then after time a bit above. creeping change. and fringe marshy back bay areas became grass free as the water got a little bit too deep or murky from pollution to support the sea grass. loss of habitat and increasing erosion , once the grass and roots were gone.

There is another wrinkle to furture sea level rise. Right now a huge amount of water is locked up in the antarctic ice cap at the south pole, above sea level. so much mass that it has a tidal effect on the oceans, a bit like the moon. its constant gravitational tug pulls water from the north hemisphere into the southern hemisphere. as it melts and loses mass in the future, its gravitational pull will lesson and the oceans will slide north, seaking a new gravitational level of equalibrium, and the north atlantic coast will get additional sea level rise in addition to ice melt and thermal expansion and sinking land. the southern hemisphere will see a net lowering of sea level.

Hey, they sell hip waders on E=Bay? Don’t they?

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[quote=“kaptken, post:3, topic:4829”]
Hey, they sell hip waders on E=Bay? Don’t they?[/quote]

Heck yeah they sell everything on ebay
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I would have put good money on California blowing bubbles first . . .

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Here’s to Wilmington ocean front property :BEER. On a more serious note, I have witnessed the loss of the DE beaches, where the old WW2 triangulation towers used to be a lot further away from the Atlantic.