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Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

Climate Scientists Say They Have Solved Riddle of Rising Sea

Author:    
Source:     The Raw Story/Agence France-Presse
Publication Date:     Sunday, May 20, 2012 14:01 EDT
 Link: Climate Scientists Say They Have Solved Riddle of Rising Sea
Stephan:   Here is good science guiding us as it should. The question is: what are we going to do about it? The demand for water in places where in nature's pattern it would not be is going to continue to deplete the underground aquifers, thus increasing sea level rise. It is a sublime irony, and should teach us a major lesson. Once again it is demonstrated that all of Gaia's systems are interconnected and interdependent. Living in a manner that recognizes and cooperates with this, as we will have to ultimately is going to require us to change our perspective on how a culture should work. That's why national wellness has to be our first priority -- wellness extends from individual to Earth. We know how to do this. There are example nations thriving today. We must muster the will to bring this election to the most life-affirming outcome.

PARIS — Massive extraction of groundwater can resolve a puzzle over a rise in sea levels in past decades, scientists in Japan said on Sunday.

Global sea levels rose by an average of 1.8 millimetres (0.07 inches) per year from 1961-2003, according to data from tide gauges.

But the big question is how much of this can be pinned to global warming.

In its landmark 2007 report, the UN’s Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ascribed 1.1mm (0.04 inches) per year to thermal expansion of the oceans – water expands when it is heated – and to meltwater from glaciers, icecaps and the Greenland and Antarctica icecaps.

That left 0.7mm (0.03 inches) per year unaccounted for, a mystery that left many scientists wondering if the data were correct or if there were some source that had eluded everyone.

In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, a team led by Yadu Pokhrel of the University of Tokyo say the answer lies in water that is extracted from underground aquifers, rivers and lakes for human development but is never replenished.

The water eventually makes it to the ocean through rivers and evaporation in the soil, they note.

Groundwater extraction is the main component of additions that […]

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