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"RISING SEA LEVELS: SCIENCE FICTION" |
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK, Nov. 12 -/E-Wire/--
There is a popular myth being foisted on us by the media and that is that sea levels are rising. Sea levels are not rising and will not rise if all the ice caps melt. Sea levels have been receding for millions of years. Over the last ten years scientists have been scaring us with scenarios of flooded coastal lands and mass evacuations. Half of the world nations are going to spend a substantial part of their budgets in the years to come to offset an eventuality that will not occur: that is raising sea levels. It is a cruel joke played on unsuspecting people who believe what scientists tell them. It is pathetic because small Island states will be expending a substantial portion of their already stretched budgets to ensure that their people don't drown. The fact is that sea levels are not rising and will not rise to threaten any nation small or large. Sea levels are constantly falling and will continue to do so into the future. My real fear is that we will not be able to debunk the fallacy in time to save much unnecessary expenditure.
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An article in the New York Times of Wednesday 26th September should put the myth of rising sea levels to rest once and for all. The title " JERSEY ,S RIGHTS TO SHORE , PROVE COSTLY TO THE CASINOS" The article spells out how the State of New Jersey is dealing with the land left behind over the last 200 years by the receding sea. New Jersey , alone has received an inheritance of approximately 50000 acres of free land from the sea since 1776. The State is now selling this new land to Casino owners for $1.9 Million Dollars per acre. They are also attempting to tax land owners retroactively for having had use of the land over the years. In another hundred years New Jersey will inherit, perhaps, another 25000 free acres from the receding sea. This new land is what will be left behind as the sea recedes along the entire 127 miles of Jersey shoreline.
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This newly acquired land is a gift to all states with shorelines. It is also a great revenue base for any state who wants to research its archives to see where the sea was back in 1776. It is also good for them to know that over the next century they will inherit sizable amounts of new land from the receding sea. To illustrate. Anyone walking along Pearl Street in Manhattan would never suspect that it was originally on the East River waterfront. Today however it is far removed by three streets from the waterfront. As time went by Front Street became the first street on the East River and then came Water Street and then later South Street and later FDR Drive . In another hundred years the East River will be narrowed by new highways and new streets as the city expands.
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By that time, at the current rate of development, as much as 500 feet could be added to the city's east side. The western expansion of the city on the Hudson River over last 300 years is even greater than that on the east side. Another outfall resulting from the seas recession is dredging operations. All harbor authorities have to spend large sums on dredging to keep shipping channels open. Container vessels over the years have increased in size demanding deeper channels.
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The New York Port Authority will be spending billions in the years to come to keep the harbor channels open as seas recede. For the first time the authority will have to blast bedrock to attain even greater depths demanded by mega ships. The challenge is to keep the harbor open at all costs as ships get bigger and seas recede. What is of interest is that all harbor authorities have to continue dredging not knowing or understanding that they are working against a natural phenomenon of receding sea levels. There is nothing they can do about it, however, but complain about the ever increasing cost of dredging operations.
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The recent attempts to move the "Intrepid" from pier 86 proved futile until dredges were called in to clear a channel for the carrier. The large vessel was embedded in the river mud after being moored there for, only, 24 years. When the Carrier returns to berth 86 in 2008 the dredges will, again, have to be called in to clear a channel for her. Another anomaly that occurs constantly without being understood is the disappearance of Coastal Salt Marshes. For example: The Salt Marshes in Jamaica Bay New York are disappearing mysteriously and we don't know why. The Jamaica Bay Salt Marshes have been studied for the last fifty years and they are disappearing. The marshes are drying up.
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The study over fifty years is perhaps the best thing that could have happened because it showed progressively that the sea was receding and draining the marshes. The study took place over this new era of environmental awareness and as such is able to tell us something. We must remember that environmental awareness is a recent phenomenon.
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The lessons learned from the fifty year study of the Salt Marshes of Jamaica Bay should not be lost. We must understand from that that all the salt marshes along the entire east coast of the United States are disappearing. The reason is the receding sea.
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The sea level supports salt marshes initially but as the sea levels recede and fall the marshes are drained leaving mud flats behind: the marshes die as a result.
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This is the reason why coastal wetlands are disappearing worldwide. The Jamaica Bay study was worthwhile and we should learn something from it. Richard Guy is a Structural Engineer he has built Docks, Harbors, Oil refineries and Highways and Airports on lands that were left behind by "The Mysterious Receding Seas". His experience is worldwide.
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