How far can it go? The last time the world was three degrees warmer than today – which is what we expect later this century – sea levels were 25m higher. So that is what we can look forward to if we don’t act soon. None of the current climate and ice models predict this. But I prefer the evidence from the Earth’s history and my own eyes. I think sea-level rise is going to be the big issue soon, more even than warming itself.
That could happen. We just need to have a 10,000 percent speedup in sea level rise rates.
It’s hard to say what the world will be like if this happens. It would be another planet. You could imagine great armadas of icebergs breaking off Greenland and melting as they float south. And, of course, huge areas being flooded.
Yes you could, if you are on some sort of very strong medication.
Steve,
here I JUST finish correcting you about your repeated Hansen mistake, and now you go and do ANOTHER one that is just as bad.
How is it you have this uncanny ability to miss the paragraph ABOVE where you quote from?
“14,000 years ago sea levels rose by
20m in 400 years – that is five metres in a century. This was towards the end of the last ice age, so there was more ice around. But, on the other hand, temperatures were not warming as fast as today.”
If you can read the title of your post. It says “Hansen” 25 meters of sea level rise this century”. Yet nowhere in the article does Hansen say this.
In fact if you read the quote I pasted, he doesn’t even say it WILL happen in 400 years. Just that it HAS happened in 400 years in the past. When there was MUCH more ice to melt, but with temperatures not as high as today.
So your retraction should be MUCH easier this time since we are catching it before you have repeated it so often that it is terribly embarrassing to you.
And SUYTS says you admit your mistakes immediately when you make them. So that is a relief. I would hate to have to constantly be reminding you of this mistake. it is hard enough keeping track and correcting all your Manhattan underwater comments.
Again, no thanks are necessary.
But things are happening so much faster now, Tony. Hansen says so. Giant armadas of of icebergs will break off into the sea and flood your home in Vermont.
Unlikely. I live much more than 25 meters above sea level. I am near the connecticut river, but still probably at least 20 meters higher than that as well
Didn’t you see 2012? The flood waters will go all the way to the base of Mt. Everest.
I already admitted that I hacked Salon retroactively, and forced both of them to make contradictory statements over the last 25 years, including a reaffirmation by Hansen ten years ago.
Steve,
I hate to say this, but as amazing as you are on the internet. I do not believe you hacked the Salon website before you started your blog.
and you are AGAIN not understanding what actually happened (aren’t you glad I am so patient with you?). There Was only ONE contradictory statement. It was by Reiss on the Salon website and he has cleared it up, and Hansen has confirmed it, and the book and ALL Hansen’s written and public statements support the version stated by Reiss and Hansen.
Unless of course you have been hoarding all the other statements by Hansen stating a huge sea level increase by 2008. Then, of course, you have a good case for some sort of conspiracy
Take your pick:
1. You believe Manhattan will flood in 17 years. 2. You believe that Hansen made a ridiculous prediction based on circumstances which could not possibly happen.
So Tony, why does Hansen put these words together in a sentence?
“The last time the world was three degrees warmer than today – which is what we expect later this century – sea levels were 25m higher.”
What is the purpose of the sentence? Regardless of what was said prior or after, he’s trying to convey a thought here. What is it?
the thought is that with increased temperatures maintained over a long enough period of time, LOTS of ice will melt and sea level will rise to levels much higher than they are now. If this happens it will be a major pain in the ass for a lot of people. It has happened quickly in the past, so it could happen quickly now. But he does not say 25 meters in 90+ years.
What is the purpose of stating something that is at the very least off by a factor of 400%?
Wait. has Steve written a book, where he has the actual quote in it? I SWEAR if that is the case I will believe the book version. Nope. Scratch that idea. Steve would not believe the book version.
Plausible deniability was the motto of the Nixon White House
“I’m not going to be the one to bring up the subject of Kennedy’s religion”
Plausible deniability would have been easy for Kennedy if he had to deny that he was a mormon. Haivng never stepped in a Mormon church or been caught reading the book mormon, or… wait did he marry Marilyn too?
The last time I ran over a nail, my tire went flat. I’m running over nails right now.
What expectation did I just convey?
Hitler is a threat to democracy everywhere
SUYTS,
Hitler is intent on world domination. if we don’t stop him now the results will be catastrophic.
If someone said this after the Austrian plebiscite, it would of course be a hysterical totally unrealistic statement. Many countries had shifted their borders a bit through puffery and war. the idea that Hitler was trying to take over the world were obviously the remarks of an alarmist, and ridiculing and exaggerating their statements makes complete sense.
lol, ok Tony, you went a bit tangential on me. I can almost see the parallel you’re trying to draw, I just can’t stretch that far.
My point is, words mean things. They convey thoughts. They don’t have to be explicitly stated to convey the thoughts. Hansen has mastered this form of communication. It serves no purpose to pretend he wasn’t trying to convey catastrophic flooding in a very short time by saying he didn’t explicitly state it. These aren’t random words thrown together.
SUYTS,
so you are saying Hansen has mastered the art of saying what he really wanst people to think he says, so that they will think something other than what he actually says.
Well, I admit he has managed to do that to Steve, to an amazing degree.
I think you are completely blind to what is going on.
Tony, you say, “[Hansen] does not say 25 meters in 90+ years.” But in “Paleoclimate Implications for Human-Made Climate Change”, he proposes an exponentially increasing rate of sea level rise over the coming century culminating with a rise of 2 meters in the last 7 years of the 21st century. That corresponds to 26 meters in 91 years at that rate. And he does not propose that the rate stabilizes after that, so he is actually projecting even higher rates of increase.
Curt.
You are right.
Obviously that is where the movie “2012” got its technical science info from.
WAIT. that means he is predicting that in a few thousand years sea level will completely extinguish the Sun! We are DOOMED!
Read the actual article. he does discuss limitations. Some of which he contends are invalid, others he contends are relevant to varying degrees. One such is the negative feedback from the actual melting,
TonyD:
I am going to use the quote you provided:
“14,000 years ago sea levels rose by
20m in 400 years – that is five metres in a century. This was towards the end of the last ice age, so there was more ice around. But, on the other hand, temperatures were not warming as fast as today.”
First 14,000 years ago was the start of the termination of the most recent glacial maximum. The current ICE AGE is something like 38 Million years old.
Second the temperatures were rising faster then than now and during the last interglacial the sea levels were more than 25 meters higher than now when temperatures were warmer.
To experience a full termination of the current Ice Age would be a good thing for the globe and the rate of sea level rise will allow adaptation. More problems exist with compaction in regions that were reclaimed marshes and swamps than sea level rise will cause.
This interglacial is getting old in the tooth and has been ending for about 5,000 years. Hansen is FOS and his defenders are blind to reality.
Of course this is all based on Big Jim’s imaginary temperature rise so beveling in global warming is the same as believing the Easter Bunny is coming to visit Sunday.
Mike,
been wondering where you have been.
Imagine me being fooled by all that peer reviewed nonsense.
We really need to lobby for all scientific decisions to be determined by blog. Specifically this one. Since you Steve refuses to publish in mainstream science journals.
Yup Christie and Spencer are wrong about the temps. Why do any of you guys cite those traitors?
you have proven conclusively there is no relevant greenhouse effect.
of Course a 25 meter sea rise would be good for the earth. New York on a magnetic floating platform. A great new tourist industry for all those underwater museum cities. We can have plants as pets. They will become so active and cover the globe with their life-giving properties, it will be an environmental utopia. I am surprised YOU have not been called to testify before congress
But we do have to be SOMEWHAT careful. After all, I demonstrated on this site that we need to keep sea level rise below 93 million Miles, or we will be in deep doodoo.
Seeing how my SUV is affecting the climate on Pluto I guess you have a point!
Mike,
Are you telling me that earth’s natural variation extends beyond the last planet of the sola system?
THAT oughta make some waves in the scientific community