‘All Coastal Cities Become Dysfunctional’ If Sea Levels Rise

The paper, which will be published online in the European Geosciences Union journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussion later this week, projects sea levels rising as much as 10 feet in the next 50 years.

According to the new study-which has not yet been peer-reviewed, but was written by former NASA scientist James Hansen and 16 other prominent climate researchers-current predictions about the catastrophic impacts of global warming, the melting of vast ice sheets and sea level rise do not take into account the feedback loop implications of what will occur if large sections of Greenland and the Antarctic are consumed by the world’s oceans.

He warns that if ocean levels will just rise 10 feet, cities in the Unites States such as Miami, Boston, Seattle and New York City will experience extreme flooding.

In addition, we can expect more violent weather as the melting ice cools the poles while the climate overall continues to warm, he argued.

At a time when climate action is an essential step to protect coastal assets, Hansen and his colleagues are hoping that world leaders will heed their warnings and move to protect our coastal communities from the ever-rising tides.

Nowhere in CBS’s one-sided climate change segment did Axelrod bother to offer up any opposing viewpoints or skepticism that Hansen’s dire predictions were over-the-top or questionable. But mainstream climate scientists say the report appears speculative and is not in sync with the leading understanding of melting sea ice. Jim Axelrod has that part of the story.

Dr. James Hansen has been described as “alarmist and also right”.

Gavin Schmidt, a climate scientist with NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, says the Hansen report is merely “one scenario, and not evidence for that scenario”.

“There’s plenty of reason to worry about sea level rise, but I don’t see 10 feet happening by end of century”, says Joughin.

Hansen explains that when the Earth’s atmosphere becomes warmer, it produces more water vapor that can generate more thunderstorms and even stronger hurricanes and typhoons including tornadoes since they all get their energy and power from this massive amount of water vapor.

AXELROD: almost a decade ago, Hansen told 60 Minutes we had ten years to get a handle on global warming. “We’re essentially at the edge of that”.

AXELROD:

Critical because of the United Nations meeting in Paris in December designed to reach legally binding agreements on carbon emissions, Charlie, those greenhouse gasses that create global warming.