California Will Be Underwater In A Few Years??

Im watching this program about global warming and glaciers melting and stuff. and ive heard from many sources that the coastal towns of california will be underwater in a few short years. I was just wondering, is there any hard evidence of that?? or is it just a theory, like y2k?

 

on the bright side land is going to get a lot cheaper there.

 

research it and decide for yourself
though, I personally, highly doubt it's a real concern

 

I understand that as the polar ice caps melt, there is more moisture in the air, thus causing more snow. Record amounts in fact. The snow apparently is building up and turning to ice upon the remaining ice caps causing them to get LARGER... It would seem that the earth has natural ways of healing itself and staying in balance.

 

Earthmother, that is one possibility. I believe research is necessary to determine how similar past climate change has affected the planet. Ice core samples can be used to determine the climatic conditions of millions of years ago. History has a way of repeating itself, so the more we learn about past climatic change, the better we can predict the consequences of a warming environment.

It does make sense that sea levels will rise with the addition of more water oPeace and lovence contained in ice. Historically, sea levels drop with global glaciation. There is also theories that introduction of massive amounts of fresh water will *stop* the oceanic currents due to the more dense sea water settling to the bottom while fresh water covers the surface and doesn't "feed" the oceanic conveyor belt. What would the results be? It is rather unclear. Basically, many different events might take place, which are also impacted by astronomical events such as Malcovich's cycle, etc. I have heard that "global warming" leads to periods of glaciation. Isn't that counter-intuitive?

There is a lot of uncertainty about what might happen in the near future. Hopefully geology can provide a prediction of what might come...

Yes, I agree that Earth does maintain balance; just not in our "tiny" view.

Peace and love

 

Lots of studies HAVE been done and ARE being done. The earth has a natural cycle apparently, which has nothing to do with us humans. Our really BIGGEST concerns have to do with whether the climate will change so drastically as to cause us HUMANS trouble. But I really don't think that the earth was created just to keep humans happy... And altho I DO think we could have the capability of screwing around with nature to the point where there are changes, I also think that we would have to go some to actually RUIN the earth. Make it unpleasant for life as we know it, yes, but ruining it (or "saving" it) would take a lot more than changing a few lightbulbs or driving a different car. Nature has an amazing way of balancing out the harm we do.

 

It's one theory, and we're certainly not talking about "a few years" but perhaps half a century at the soonest. If we reach runaway unprecendented warming (average +4 degrees or so) this might trigger a feedback cycle which could melt the polar ice sheets, raising sea levels tens of feet and causing worldwide flooding and displacing millions of people. We are a very long way from that yet and the truth is nobody really knows what'll happen if the current warming trend continues unabated for that long...

 

No, this won't happen in "a few years." That is faster than physically reasonable. Having said that, we could see a lot of coastal property lost by the middle of the century. California doesn't tend to have large, low-elevation coasts, so won't be as impacted as some places, but there are a few spots that are at significant risk. We could see a couple meters of sea level rise by the end of the century--again, a lot of coastal property lost. To really see very, very bad results we're talking a few centuries. In 300 or 400 years we could see a large part of San Francisco underwater with the way we are headed, for example.

 

better learn how to swim

i'm pretty sure tool has been saying that for years

it isn't just a theory like y2k, thats a completely different thing
global warming is happening and costal lines are changing, it won't have in a few years but it will happen

 

The sky is falling! Panic!!

 

Yeah, that's what we said

 

Back to OP, there may be some sea coast flooding due to melting glaciers, but it's not going to happen in a few years and the waters will rise 2 feet at the most. This is the highest estimate. No, California is not going to be flooded anytime soon.

Peace and love

 

For the record I think that the Oceans rising two feet would have a major, major impact on Cali's coastline.

 

You wouldn't think so, but we have a pond, and when the water level goes DOWN just a few inches it's REAL noticable. If you try an experiment and find the SMALLEST grade and put a stake with a long string at the top, then run a level on the string, you will see just how FAST the little bit of slope becomes a lot bigger than you thought.

 

I thought California was going to fall into the ocean due to all the major earthquake faults? Not so?

 

Yes, that's enough that there will be a lot of damage to coastal property. This won't be enough to innundate large areas though, at least in California. In low-lying areas such as along the east coast and many places around the world this is enough to take up fairly large expanses of land.

 

Ha, actually California isn't "going" to fall into the ocean, it is currently doing so, and has been for a long time. The very western part o California is part of the Pacific plate, not the North American plate. That edge of the Pacific plate is currently being subducted under the North American plate. So, that part of California is slowing being swallowed.

 

I know that Newport Beach peninsula is pretty close to sea level, as are parts of San Diego and Los Angeles (Marina del Rey and Venice), parts of Long Beach, Sunset Beach, Huntington Beach. Some San Francisco Bay waterfront properties would be effected.

However, since the process is very slow and the citizens of these areas tend to be wealthy, I would think that rather than just pack up and move, they will build sea walls and pumps, New Orleans style. More at risk are places like the Maldive Islands where the land is only marginally above sea level to start with and there is no higher ground at all.

 

I used to live in Cali, my hometown. Hope that doesn't happen...

 

That's not true. The main faults on the plate borders are lateral strike/slip type faults. The land mass on the Pacific plate is not being subducted, but is moving north/west while the North American plate is moving South/West and grinding against each other as they move. At the current rate of movement, it is estimated that it will be an island of the coast of Alaska in 20-50 million years. This land mass includes Baja California and the coast area of the state of California including Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Diego. http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/s/san_andreas_fault.htm

As for the ocean rising, I would be more worried about the Gulf coast, Florida and parts of the East coast, where much more land/people are closer to sea level. The coastal mountain ranges runs through most of California, which would make it less vulnerable, over all, but still could be bad for some. Here is a link to a paper on it. -http://www.isse.ucar.edu/moser/pdf/Vulnerability_Inundation_Paper.pdf