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Sea Level Rise in the SF Bay Area Just Got a Lot More Dire (wired.com)

An anonymous reader writes: San Francisco Bay Area residents have long been aware of the threat that sea level rise poses to their coastal existence -- but things suddenly look a lot more serious. A new study examines the simultaneous phenomena of rising sea levels and subsiding coastal land, and as Wired reports, the situation is pretty dire. Models that factor in just sea level rise predict that at least 20 square miles could be underwater by 2100. Once you add in subsiding land, that jumps to nearly 50 square miles, and could get as bad as 165 square miles. Or, put another way, by the end of the century, half of the runways and taxiways at San Francisco Airport could be submerged.

The study found that most of the Bay's coastline is sinking at a rate of less than 2 millimeters a year -- and while that may not sound like a lot, the millimeters can add up fast. "You talk to someone about, 'Oh the land is going down a millimeter a year,' and that can be kind of unimpressive," says William Hammond, a researcher at the University of Nevada Reno who studies subsidence (but was not involved in this particular project). "But we know as scientists that these motions, especially if they come from plate tectonics, that they are relentless and they will never stop, at least as long as we're alive on this planet."

4 of 291 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing to worry about by McGregorMortis · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Subsidence is a great driver of our economy." - SF Bay Gondoliers Association

  2. Re:Sea wall! by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    And we will get the Water to Pay for it!

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  3. Re:Actual images seem much less dire by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Plus they are not accounting for the fact that clean coal is a game changer and will result in major reductions in greenhouse gasses.

  4. Re:For most of SF, it's not really relevant. by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 3, Funny

    SFO airport is indeed at sea level-- it's right on the bay.

    Don't worry . . . Über Swim will still be able to service the submerged airport.

    But you can build runways up if you need to; it's not hard.

    Who needs runways, when you can use Ground Effect . . . ?

    Russia is already prepared to service the Aqua-Airport:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!