Sea Level Risk Essay

There are many areas in Tampa that will be unfortunately underwater. As we saw with the heavy rains in late 2015, the most vital areas such as Westshore Ave, South Tampa, Bayshore Ave, and even Downtown had major flooding causing delays in traffic and safety anxieties. While the flooding only lasted a few days, the event brought attention to the Tampa’s faulty infrastructure and drainage systems. An alarming thought is how Tampa will be able to protect itself from a storm or the rising sea levels if the drainage systems are inadequate. The Tampa Bay area is due for a natural disaster any day now; the coastal area is highly vulnerable. According to Sara Kerr, “One place that we have to look carefully at is Tampa where there is a huge concentration at risk from a storm surge, but there hasn’t been an event for 150 years and so the city is fairly complacent about its risk” (2015). A possible catastrophe can pose as an environmental challenge in Tampa Bay as the highly populous areas will not be able to withstand rising sea levels that will occur.

As it stands today the U.S. coast of the Gulf of Mexico is losing more and more land; the amount of land lost each year may seem relatively small to the average person, but to scientists who understand the unprecedented rate at which this is happening, there is reason to be alarmed. On the U.S. coast of the Gulf of Mexico there are more reasons for the rising sea level than simply global warming and melting ice sheets or ice caps. In the Mississippi delta, for example, the oil industry is taking so much fluid (oil) out of the ground that the land is sinking and compacting further. There is also a decrease in the amount of sediment reaching the delta due to many man-made structures, such as levees, drudging, dikes, and

People living in Miami are in the face of danger, and for the most part they are not aware of it. Due to high population, Miami is the fourth largest city to become affected by sea level rise. (Ankum et al.) In the next 32-50 years, sea level is expected to rise by as much as two feet. (Ankum et al.) This two-foot rise will have detrimental effects on the urban settings of Miami. The amount of soil erosion that is undergoing at our beaches will greatly increase if a two-foot rise occurs. At a four-foot rise, road connectivity would begin to become affected. At a six-foot rise, Southern Florida would no longer be habitable as it would, for the most part, be underwater. Not much is being invested in mitigation efforts, most of what is being done are short term solutions. Instead of coming up with ideas to prevent and try to slow down the effects of climate change on our environment, we are focusing on ideas such as building up a sea wall, relocating power plants, and redesigning structures.

Many communities are suffering due to coastal erosion. One example is the village of Cocodrie, LA in Terrebonne Parish. This village’s small population and its 220 residential and commercial buildings are surrounded by marshes. In Cocodrie, there is no barrier against hurricanes. Local marinas play host to recreational and commercial fishing, and The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium is located in Cocodrie. This facility of around 100,000 square ft houses laboratories, classrooms, and a research center. Infrastructure that will be affected by coastal erosion includes paved highway, dirt roads, a bridge, water supply systems, and natural gas lines. By 2050, Cocodrie will be surrounded by open water as the marshlands around the village give way to rising sea levels. Another community affected by this issue is Yscloskey, LA in St. Bernard Parish. The most important part of the economy here is fishing, and highways link the parish to New Orleans fishing communities. The Yscloskey area lies outside of the protective levees and is quite vulnerable to storms. Though losses in Yscloskey are not predicted to be as great as those in Cocodrie, a 16 percent loss by 2050 leaves the infrastructure of Yscloskey even more vulnerable (Coast 2050, 1998, p. 64-66). Local residents in these areas are watching the land disappear along with the beachfronts and Cyprus swamps that were on that land (Marshall, 2014).

History will affirm that from the beginning of the settlement of New Orleans in 1717, it was then and continues to be a location destined to periodic flooding caused by the Mississippi river and rising storms. Throughout time, New Orleans would challenge nature by primarily fortifying the river’s natural levees to periodically engineering levees to combat issues of flooding, only to return to reinforcing or rebuilding according to damages inflicted as time progressed. Each attempt to fight nature from overwhelming New Orleans kept setting engineers back. Refusal to abandon the coastal areas became more costly over time; the intent to preserve the coast became more valuable than the value of life and property.

Jeff Goodell's book introduces an inside look at rising sea levels and their effect on our world. Goodell's book describes a journey to different cities and towns to figure out how to conform to sea levels that are continuing to rise. He travels to places like small Alaskan villages, to the city of Lagos, and returns throughout the book to Miami. Miami is one of the areas that demonstrated the challenges of trying to keep the ocean at bay. According to Goodell, because of carbon dioxide emissions, sea level rising is guaranteed. People need to help the problem by lowering the emissions of these toxic gases.

Most people wouldn’t pay any mind to care about coastal resilience and the sea-level rise in the Tidewater area of Virginia. However, they are very important to the community and its development. In the past I was one of those people as well until I knew how much the Tidewater area could be affected by an extreme weather storm or pipe malfunction. Growing up in Virginia Beach I've always questioned why the houses in Virginia didn’t have basements. Because Virginia's elevation is approximately 5,729 feet, the average elevation is 12 feet above sea level, it's considered below sea level. The Tidewater area in Virginia is known for flooding when there are rain storms or other serious weather conditions as well. This is not only because of Virginia's elevation level, but also because of the sewage and waste system.

Officially founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, New Orleans was strategically located at the crossroads of three navigable water bodies, Lake Pontchartrain, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi River. Important primarily as a trading depot for French fur trappers, the city evolved into one of the most important ports in America providing a gateway to the nation’s agricultural riches (Lewis 2003). Along the Mississippi River the land sits twelve feet above sea level, and a handful of low ridges cutting our perpendicular from the river are above sea level as well. But in general, 95% of New Orleans proper is below sea level at an average depth of five feet, and dips as it heads from the river to Late Pontchartrain and hits its lowest spots-about six and half feet below sea level-as it nears the shoreline. In this subsea, subtropical city, buildings routinely sink and shift, concrete buckles dramatically, and virtually every drop of water that falls must be physically pumped to higher ground. What isn’t below sea level is often water. (Cooper

Cities in Florida also lack the technology, money and manpower to keep back the seas by themselves (“Sea rise”, 2015). Despite warnings from water experts and climate scientists about risks to cities and drinking water, skepticism over sea-level projections and climate-change science has hampered planning efforts at all levels of

Coastal Resilience and Sea- level Rise is a huge burden for residents in the Tidewater, VA area. Being from Washington, DC I have not experienced flooding the way people have experience in Hampton Roads. In the last 80 years sea level in Norfolk has risen 80% higher than the global average in the past 140 years. As I am currently residing in Norfolk, thankfully I still have yet to experience sea level rise.The global average of sea level rise is 8 inches while the average in Sewells Point, Norfolk is 14.5 inches. I feel as though sea level rise should be a priority for the local governments because it is only getting worse. According to the World Resources Institute, by 2060 sea level in Southeast VA is expect to rise between 1-3 feet.Norfolk

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) is funding a project that’ll protect coastal Virginia. The Virginia Institute of Marine Science is receiving the grant from the NOAA for their 1.2 million dollar project to coming up with solutions for areas which are most affected by flooding. The project will allow the VIMS to work with local government in the process of executing nature based resilience to flooding. A 12 million dollar Coastal Resilience and Accelerator Laboratory is being formed in order to attempt to come up with a way to adapt with the sea-level rising. Overall, planning and experimenting coastal resilience can be costly but may pay off later considering the sea-level is rising.

Abstract—Sea level rise due to change in climate is a severe global threat; Flooding, storm surges, and other consequences of the rise in ocean water level have a widespread adverse effects on coastal cities across the globe. Consistent rise in ocean levels have occurred throughout the world for thousands of years. The data from tide gauge observations and global satellite imagery, assisted us to determine the rates and causes of rise in sea-level. On analyzing the data, it affirms the need for long-term reliable observation to estimate accurately the regional changes furthermore to improve our ability to estimate the future changes in ocean levels. Even if the best preventive measures are taken, ocean levels will continue to rise for many decades to come, due to the large time ranges associated with the climatic evolution even if the temperature rise is stabilized. Information from various scientific studies is requried to understand sea level rise (SLR), this review emphasizes the problems and consequences this rise in sea level is creating by projecting the Ocean water levels in the future under the present global conditions.

As we arrive into another new year the same environmental issues plague us, waiting for more to be made to change the way things are done. One particular issue is the rise of or current sea levels, and even more troublesome the fact that the rate is going faster than scientist expected and how much of a impact it will have on land and aquatic life. Studies show that scientist have tracked the seas levels throughout time but were unbothered due to the fact that the increase was by very minute changes. Scientist first began to realize the rise of sea levels during the 20th century, where concern began to increase. “Records and research shows that sea level rise has been rising at a rate of 0.04 to 0.1 inches per year (“Is sea level” 2016). I believe that sea level rise is just one of the many causes of global warming. But more specifically sea level is said to be caused by “thermal expansion (caused by the warming of the oceans (since water expands as it warms) and land based ice (such as glaciers) due to increased melting)”(Gaffin, 2002) to me this is something to fear because it’s something that could directly affect people just like me, where we normally would see serious flooding. There are many Americans who live in coastal states whose futures in their current and children’s residences are greatly threatened

Sea-level rise is one of the most significant effects of climate change. As global temperatures rise, ice in the polar-regions will continue to melt, dumping tons of additional water into the ocean. Warmer water temperatures will also lead the oceans to expand high projected rates of future sea-level rise. “These factors will cause sea levels to increase and swamp coastal areas all over the world” (Oceans and Sea Level Rise). Particularly, countries which are located in low-lying areas as well as islands, are concerned that their land areas would be decreased due to inundation and coastal erosion and, at worst, a large proportion of their population may be forced to migrate to other countries. Although flooding is an obvious consequence of rising sea levels, there are numerous other effects to consider. The current rising sea levels due to global warming are effecting the environment in a number of ways. (Oceans and Sea Level Rise)

In one costal town, Riggs was talking about the sea level increase with an interviewer and stated “Oh yea, this town would be under water.”. Although the sea level is not expected to reach those levels for another 80 years, when it does, an estimated 500,000 North Carolinian’s lives will be threatened, and forced to evacuate, as their beloved communities become swallowed up by the big blue. The rising of the oceans sea levels explicitly displays how climate change is a threat to the United States because, the rising seas are threating the very existence of the iconic North Carolina coastal communities our Men, women and children call home.