I guess they won’t need any more “Green Economic Conferences” there the like this:
Where they say:
“Venice is particularly hard hit by climate change and this conference is an attempt to provide solutions that various parts of Italy are experiencing under global environmental change.”
Venice-geconference-michelemarch31 (source here)
From CSIRO:
Venice to suffer fewer storm surges
Reference: 11/55
A team of international scientists led by CSIRO’s Dr Alberto Troccoli studied atmospheric circulation in the Mediterranean region to assess climate impacts through changes in storm surge frequency in Venice – a World Heritage-listed city built on 117 small islands and considered vulnerable to high sea levels (locally known as Acqua Alta).
Dr Troccoli said predictions of such extreme and small-scale events are exceedingly challenging, even for relatively short time horizons.
“The survival of Venice and its lagoon is seriously questioned under the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) global sea level rise scenarios and the results of this study, published in the journal Climatic Change, emphasise the need for location-by-location studies to determine coastal flooding impacts.
“While some assessment of the vulnerability of Venice to extreme high-water events have been carried out in the past, possible future changes in storm surge occurrences critical to flooding events remain largely unexplored. It is important to understand how these events will evolve since a moderate to strong storm surge event is required to cause serious flooding.
“We found that the frequency of extreme storm surge events affecting Venice is projected to decrease by about 30 per cent by the end of the 21st century which would leave the pattern of flooding largely unaltered under 21st Century climate simulations,” Dr Troccoli said.
“Our paper presents an alternative analysis for storm surges and we believe our findings could have important implications on the way future storm surge and high tide events are interpreted”– Dr Alberto Troccoli, CSIRO
The research team – from CSIRO, the University of Padova and the University of Reading – used data from observations of storms, analysis of atmospheric and surface conditions, and climate scenario simulations. Storm surges in the northern part of the Adriatic Sea are driven by the passage of deep low-pressure systems, which cause sea level pressure gradients and strong Sirocco (South-Easterly) winds along the Adriatic Sea. These forces combine to push water into the northern end of the basin where Venice is located.
Dr Troccoli said an implication of the finding is that alterations in extreme tidal levels under climate change must be considered on a location-by-location basis in spite of the projected increase in global sea level.
“Thus the projected change in the storm surge contribution, combined with the projected change of mean water levels in the Adriatic Sea indicates that tidal flooding events might not be exacerbated over the current century, with potential beneficial consequences for the conservation of the city.
“Our paper presents an alternative analysis for storm surges and we believe our findings could have important implications on the way future storm surge and high tide events are interpreted,” he said.
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COME ON EVERYBODY! GET OUT AND EMIT AS MUCH CO2 AS POSSIBLE! YOU WILL HELP SAVE VENICE!!! (*)
(*) Venice, Italy, not Venice, CA
No Venice, the sea level is not rising. That is you sinking into the mud.
is that the term to be now “…global environmental change” ? no more climate disruption ?
Over the past thirty years, I have occassionally flew the Atlantic, passing over Greenland. I saw it today for the first time; here are the thoughts I had:
1. Boy those rocks poking up free of the ice are actually mountain peaks.
2. That looks like a real cold desert down there.
3. In the “vallies”, which are in effect glaciers, there are clouds.
4. Greenland looks a lot closer, perhaps this is a very high plateau.
Venice has been sinking into the Adriatic for centuries, ever since it’s founding in c450AD, a combination of being built on marshland and the silting up of the lagoon. Global warming has, apparently, contributed to a 23cm rise in sea level over the past 110 years. Research indicates that the other main factor is subsidence due to excessive ground water withdrawal, but it is not clear to me how you can have excessive ground water withdrawal in a lagoon which is open to the Adriatic and fed by a river. No doubt someone will instruct me in this matter.
The people of Venice have traditionally dealt with the situation by building another storey as the lowest level sinks below the water. more modern solutions have been mooted, http://www.agiweb.org/geotimes/mar04/geophen.html. Their efficacy and possibility of success I leave to others to assess.
Venice has been battling the Adriatic Sea for over 1,500 years – long before hysterical AGW deadbeats found a way to make a living off taxpayers. “A city which is regularly flooded is not a viable city,” Anna Summers-Cox of the Venice In Peril Fund told BBC World Service’s One Planet programme. “People in Venice are living in a state of denial.” Venice has always been slowly sinking. Over the last 1,000 years, it has sunk by around seven centimeters for every century, but recent reports have stated that in the last century alone, the city of Venice has lowered by around 24 centimeters.
That ain’t Global Warming schmucks – that is if one recalls the biblical story of the foolish man who built his house on a bed of sand. Duh. Truth is, there was a time — from the 1920’s until 1970 — when the city was sinking at an alarming rate. During that period, the city lost an astounding 10 centimeters in height. Developers found a convenient solution in the deep aquifers that run under the region, and began drilling wells and pumping out groundwater at a furious pace.
The net effect was like letting the air out of your tires, or perhaps more aptly, draining your waterbed. It wasn’t until the late 60’s that hydrologists put one and one together, slapped their foreheads, and sounded the alarm. You think?
Been there, done that. Venice has been sinking since they built the place, Previously they just built new buildings on top of the old as they sank into the lagoon, but now that it’s a World Heritage city, they can’t do that, so sheza goin’ under.
At the rate locals have been leaving the city, there won’t be anyone there by 2100 anyway.
Venice has been flooding for at least a thousand years.
Mike McMillan:
PBS had a special on Venice some years back, On building had the foundations of something like seven earlier buildings under it! The inhabitants just kept building on top of the old buildings as the land sunk,
“Dr Troccoli said an implication of the finding is that alterations in extreme tidal levels under climate change must be considered on a location-by-location basis in spite of the projected increase in global sea level.”
Get this man an appointment with Al Gore and all Warmista.
That is a very nice looking blonde in “a little black dress” in the foreground.
[Reply: Off topic! …Nevermind. ~dbs]
I live near Venice and it isn’t sinking. Well that is Venice Florida.
Must be tough on the rat population.
Is this the part of global weirding where there are less “events”…………………………..
Apart from being built on mud, I saw a program which also blamed the wake from mega cruize ships for disrupting foundations. Seems they are a bit bigger than the gondolas. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/images/attachement/jpg/site1/20090505/00221917f7600b69dd3547.jpg
Maybe we could volunteer to send some of our much maligned drillers over there with their despised “fraccing” technology and they could pump enough mud in under the old girl to boost her up a couple of feet to give her a small stay of execution.
What in Heavens is the IPCC playing at, trying to meddle in the affairs of the ancient settlement of Venice? What is Australia’s CSIRO doing there, apart from perhaps getting pigeon dropped in th plaza? This is a very good example of how to spend fun money belonging to others while people in less luxurious locales are dying of starvation and disease and warfare in short and brutal lives.
The IPCC gets its money from your taxes, but you have no control over how it is spent. Have you forgotten the USA rally cry “No taxation without representation”?
This is one of the worst junket examples I’ve encountered – an example to spread far and wide about how far the IPCC is off with the fairies, CSIRO at al in the caravan.
Venice, known to be subsiding through poor foundation geology, is about the last place to choose for studying sea level change. You need a location with a fixed datum, so far as can be established from today’s less-than-perfect instruments.
Do we next hear that “vertical” wil be studied using the leaning tower of Pisa as a datum?
Anyone who has been to Venice knows that it was sinking and the sea level was static. The Italians have been working on this for decades and one can see geological and engineering displays etc. in museums. As the aquifer was drawn on, the land receded. I believe it is now stabilized.
The heavier Venice gets the more Venice sinks. That’s why it has continuously needed reinforcements to its pillars and foundation. And that has been an ongoing management for so long that you could blame christianity for its sinking.
So, Geoff, can you let us know whether this story upsets you, or not? 🙂
A study says that storm surges might not increase and you all hear that there is no warming and it is not a problem. Sort of like a dermatologist saying you don’t have skin cancer and you hear that your heart is in great shape.
Fewer storm surges? This paper will never be cited in the next IPCC report.
OT. Over at FOX: Vast corruption in UN’s Environment Program!
“The United Nations Environment Program, the flagship for environmental consciousness and creation of a new era of “global environmental governance,” doesn’t know how its money is spent or even who it may be dealing with when it comes to hundreds of corporate, public and non-governmental partners that are “key” to fulfilling its mission, according to a confidential internal study obtained by Fox News.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/06/10/un-internal-study-reveals-its-environment-program-is-administrative-mess/#ixzz1OvkZXD1z
I am curious. Most of the Med has very small tidal variance, about 10 to 20 cm:
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=627
What makes Venice have tides of a metre or more, exactly? Or is this not tidal (as the article seems to indicate very strongly)?
CSIRO…hmmm…do you mean THIS CSIRO?
CSIRO staff threaten to strike
Posted Thu Mar 3, 2011 5:33pm AEDT
Leading Australian scientists at the CSIRO have threatened to strike as early as next week after failing to win a pay rise.
Industrial action was backed by 91 per cent of CSIRO staff association members who voted in a protected action ballot after pay talks stalled.
Staff association spokesman Sam Popovski said the union wants CSIRO executives to come back to the table for further negotiations in good faith.
“Industrial action is not something CSIRO staff contemplate lightly,” Mr Popovski said.
“But management needs to understand we are very determined to fight off this substandard deal because it threatens to undermine the world-class work of the CSIRO.”
Staff at the national science and research centre are seeking a 4.6 per cent pay rise.
—
So, not only were Australians being asked to fork over carbon taxes, their own government scientists were attempting to get a fat pay raise in the middle of a global recession!
(BTW – they ended up getting a 3.5 percent pay raise…three cheers for SHARED SACRIFICE FOR THE GOOD OF THE PLANET!!).