UPDATED: Note that this tip was spurred by this discussion at Andrew Bolt’s today, and I failed to note the date of the ABC story was in 2010, and I apologize for any confusion, but there’s also relevant news today. Bolt writes: Look at this other drowning island, the Global Mail writer insisted. So I did…
Bolts adds:
A new paper published in the AGU’s house journal Eos Transactions shows why caution is often justified. Here … is the 1993-2011 sea level trend data from Tarawa atoll, part of Kiribati in the central Pacific:
Whoa! No sea-level rise there, then. And yet of course climate campaigners – and even the Kiribati government – understandably anxious to highlight the future existential threat to the islands, have used storm surges, flooding events and suchlike as evidence of current sea-level rise impacts. Which they are almost certainly not, at least not in Tarawa atoll anyway…
First this story from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (h/t to Paul Ostergaard)
“Eighty per cent of the islands we’ve looked at have either remained about the same or, in fact, gotten larger,” he said.
“Some of those islands have gotten dramatically larger, by 20 or 30 per cent.
“We’ve now got evidence the physical foundations of these islands will still be there in 100 years.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-06-03/pacific-islands-growing-not-sinking/851738
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From the “we told you so” department comes this essay from Willis Eschenbach:
Since (as Darwin showed) atolls float up with the sea level, the idea that they will be buried by sea level rises is totally unfounded. Despite never being more than a few metres tall, they have survived a sea level rise of up to three hundred plus feet (call it a hundred metres) within the last twenty thousand years. Historically they have floated up higher than the peaks of drowned mountains.
So the third claim is not true either. Atolls are created by sea level rise, not destroyed by sea level rise.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/01/27/floating-islands/
And as I and others have pointed out, the sea level scare is just another money making enterprise, as evidenced by the increase in airport expansion, among other things.
Message to Maldives president Mohammed Nasheed: your claims are BS
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OMG! It is worse then we thought! The oceans are going to turn into deserts if dont take action now. Stop ocean desrtification!
I saw the above image and saw the year 2010. I followed the link and saw “First posted Thu Jun 3, 2010 8:42am AEST” Is this WUWT post a ‘mistake’?
Anyway when
it’s because they believed their own crap about accelerating sea level rise. As for those studying these islands they knew all too well how coral island atolls behave but had to express surprise lest they be thought sceptics who went out looking for the effect.
SanityP says:
May 16, 2013 at 8:26 am
So what you’re saying is it takes 3 years for good climate news to be reported but we’re constantly bombarded with news that catastrophic climate in 50 years is imminent?
Does that sound like an agenda or what?
Charles Darwin observed how atolls work and wrote about it a long time ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atoll
Climate Science is now starting to get close to the consepts of modern science.
Could it be there is hope for climate science yet?
As stated, an old article, that I certainly do not recall being aired. What I do recall is the alarm in the media along the lines “Kiribati is sinking beneath rising sea levels…” and the like. Alarmism is still very strong in Aus and the ABC are still very much following the CAGW meme.
Wait for it….
Its worse than we though, sea levels are falling!!!
By next year there will be no more oceans.
Charles Darwin The Voyage of the Beagle
Chapter 18 – Tahiti and New Zealand
So, no worries “atoll”.
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Are you implying that sea level is not rising?
Alexandre,
Skeptics are pointing out that yet another AGW claim of doom- that the Pacific Islands are sinking into the ocean- is false.
No serious skeptic questions that sea levels have been rising.
Skeptics point out that slr is not occuring at dangerous or even unusual rates.
This article supports the skeptical position.
Alexandre says: May 16, 2013 at 1:30 pm
Are you implying that sea level is not rising?
—————
Do you have a problem with English language comprehension ? “The islands are growing” doesn’t equal the “sea level is not rising.”
Alexandre says:
May 16, 2013 at 1:30 pm
“Are you implying that sea level is not rising?”
Some corals can grow 28 cm a year vertically. See wikipedia. Coral islands are made of coral debris. The reef itself should have no problem at all growing as fast as current sea level rise speeds.
Hunter – I don’t think the article says that. Island growth due to “coral debris, land reclamation and sediment” does not refute SLR, or accelerated SLR, in any sense.
Streetcred – Look, I’m not a native speaker… but when I said “implying” it does have a different meaning in the English language than saying your both sentences “equal”.
You may not have been around these parts when this was first covered. Most sceptics know that sea level has been rising since the end of the last ice age and LIA. If you look at the Holocene graph you will see it has been flattening over the last few thousand years. The point about the coral island atolls (as observed by Darwin) is that most are able to keep up with the rate of sea level rise. I could be wrong here but I vaguely recall that those islands were colonized during the Roman Warm Period, a period warmer than the Modern Warm Period. But I could be wrong.
WUWT covered it here.
the ABC will have its funding cut or maybe sold when the liberals kick labours arse after the election . BY BY ABC and all the global warming believers
Alexandre, some of the coral island atolls are in trouble due to human activities such as over fishing of beaked fish which create sand, blasting for shipping passages, over extraction of water from the lens, pollution, sand mining, coral extraction for the construction industry etc. The Maldives is building a new airport extension I think. [references]
Here’s something you might be interested in too: In 2008 it was reported that Bangladesh has been gaining land mass for just over 3 decades according to satellite images. Amazing stuff eh?
As a commenter on Bolt’s blog noted it’s postmodern, it’s post-normal science, the facts are irrelevant people, it’s the narrative.
The tide gauge measurement for Kiribati, that don’t show threatening sea level rise, don’t detect that “accumulation” process. The island ‘grows’ with respect to the tide gauge.
It looks like, according to WikiLeaks, the Maldives were bribed by the American government to support their version of a global warming deal. I wonder whether Kiribati later became more interested due to promises?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/03/wikileaks-us-manipulated-climate-accord
Garrett says:
May 16, 2013 at 8:24 am
Umm … because it’s not true? There’s absolutely no indication that “sea level rise is likely to accelerate” That’s alarmist claptrap totally unsupported by the actual data.
“Floating Atolls” is what is known as a “metaphor”, Garrett. It’s a symbolic use of words to emphasize a point. You and I and Darwin are all clear that they don’t actually float …
Well, I happen to know whether they can continue to follow sea level rise, because I’ve watched them grow and I’ve had to clear them out of a channel that they were quickly blocking. In fact, scientific research shows they can leave sea level rise in the dust even if the rate doubles. From my paper on the subject:
That’s over a foot per year. If the sea is rising faster than that, we have other problems.
Ummm … the same way that they coped with the same slow sea level rise over the last three centuries or so?
w.
Why are they building lavish 5 star resorts over, on, and right in front of the water if the islands are all going under?
Sure, go to Google.com and paste this ( bold part, include the quotes ) into the search field … site:wattsupwiththat.com “Gary Pearse says:” “sea level”
Click the following link to automatically do exactly that … http://lmgtfy.com/?q=site%3Awattsupwiththat.com+%22Gary+Pearse+says%3A%22+%22sea+level%22
Here is a shortened version of that link to click on in case something gets lost in WordPress … http://bit.ly/149LneS
You can of course modify those search terms at will. For example modify or leave out the “sea level” part.
DirkH says:
May 16, 2013 at 2:09 pm
Alexandre says:
May 16, 2013 at 1:30 pm
“Are you implying that sea level is not rising?”
Some corals can grow 28 cm a year vertically. See wikipedia. Coral islands are made of coral debris. The reef itself should have no problem at all growing as fast as current sea level rise speeds.
===========================================
Dirk. For the most part, I think you are absolutely correct. And there’s abundant evidence to support your view.
However, take a look at the image linked below which is an aerial view of Male, the capital of the Maldives. It’s a bit unclear how coral debris is supposed to accreate onto that particular rock. I think those folks may have a real problem if sea levels rise much. It doesn’t matter if one calls the problem sea level rise, or dubious land management, it’s likely a real problem and they may well have to address it. There are probably a few other places with similar problems.
My understanding is that the inhabitants of the Maldives are rather extreme islamists, so they may wish to try prayer. Personally, I would suggest something more pro-active as well
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Male-total.jpg
2 words: rent seekers
Coral growth can out pace sea level rises. all coral islands will get larger in one way or another by sand formation, due to wave action, and storm berm building during storms. Currents move this sand around the island coastline depositing in various places so extending the area. This action varies with every island or island group.