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Monday, May 2nd, 2016

Fate of Louisiana coast could be determined by Antarctica ice melt

Author:     Bob Marshall
Source:     The Lens (New Orelans)
Publication Date:     1 May 2016
 Link: Fate of Louisiana coast could be determined by Antarctica ice melt
Stephan:   The Republican legislators and the previous governor Bobby Jindal  may not believe in climate change. But for the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast political delusion has confronted reality and reality has won. As this report spells out the coast of Louisiana is doomed unless a much more serious climate remediation effort is undertaken immediately.  This is really scary stuff. I am running this piece not because there is lots of new information, but because it represents a shift in the trend, and it is being driven by ordinary people.
Credit: The New Orleans Advocate

Credit: The New Orleans Advocate

Donald Boesch and Virginia Burkett, coastal researchers with Louisiana connections, are widely respected for their expertise on why the state’s coast is rapidly being flooded by the Gulf of Mexico, as well the 50-year, $92 billion effort to stop this disaster.

Both believe the success of the Coastal Master Plan could depend on how the world reacts to recently released research. The study doesn’t involve levees, sediment diversions, oil and gas canals or any of the other issues usually debated when Louisiana’s coastal plan is discussed.

It concerns Antarctica,  4,100 miles away.

The research presents evidence that the world and Louisiana face a stark choice:

Keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius  (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100 and little will change in Antarctica, which means sea-level rise could be manageable and Louisiana’s coastal plan might succeed.

Fail at that goal, and the result could be a sudden, dramatic melting of ice on Antarctica, adding another 3 feet to current predictions of […]

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