Global Warming...Fact or Fiction? - Page 18

dalem · 05-18-2008, 18:41 PM

Well, the article about Bikeman mentions the Japanese causeway as being a primary factor and the barrier island piece talks about how groundwater removal is a largest factor.

I don't think that can be shown to have anything to do with "global warming".

-dale

**Parihaka** · 05-18-2008, 18:58 PM

GLOBAL WARMING NOT SINKING TUVALU -- BUT MAYBE ITS OWN PEOPLE ARE

Quote:

By Michael Field

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (March 28, 2002 – Agence France-Presse)---International environmentalists might have it wrong -- global warming is not drowning the Pacific atoll nation of Tuvalu beneath a rising Pacific.

Its fate may be much more prosaic and all local: severe over-population, profound pollution and an unusual World War II legacy.

Experts even believe that if the threatening El Niño event occurs in the next six months, the sea level around Tuvalu will actually fall a by a dramatic 30 centimeters (11 inches). It did during the last big El Niño.

"The historical record shows no visual evidence of any acceleration in sea level trends," Australia’s National Tidal Facility (NTF) said in a statement about Tuvalu this week.

Contrast that hard science with the emotional statement of Tuvalu Prime Minister Koloa Talake at last month’s Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting where he announced Tuvalu, its neighbor Kiribati and the Maldives are planning legal action against Western nations that they say are creating the global warming that is rising the Pacific’s level.

"Flooding is already coming right into the middle of the islands, destroying food crops and trees, which were there when I was born 60 years ago. These things are gone. Somebody has taken them and global warming is the culprit," Talake said.

NTF, which has a network of tide gauges across the Pacific, says absolutely not so. The Pacific shows no signs, anywhere, of rising.

NTF deputy head Bill Mitchell told AFP that the absolute contrast between politics and science was developing into a crisis. His organization is holding urgent talks with the Tuvalu Government to sort out the problem.

Their tidal gauge has been on the capital atoll of Funafuti since 1993.

As of February 2002, "based on short term sea level rise analyses ... the nearly nine years of data return show a rate plus 0.9 millimeters (0.03 inch) per year," they say.

Mitchell says arguments can be made over the time length and type of scale but he is confident the data show Tuvalu is no more sinking than Australia is.

So why are the politicians so adamant? "We are not quite sure what is going on there," Mitchell said.

For the record, NTF, part of Flinders University of South Australia, is funded to carry out the Pacific study by the Australian Government and Canberra is unpopular with the Pacific for its rejection of the Kyoto Protocols on global warming.

But like Kiribati -- with which Tuvalu was once joined as the Gilbert and Ellice Islands under British rule until 1978 -- evidence is pointing to the locals creating their own nightmares.

Funafuti is an atoll of 30 islets but with a total land area of just 254 hectares (627 acres). That’s about two-thirds the size of either New York’s Central Park or London’s Hyde Park. Much of Funafuti’s land is taken up with a runway. On the atoll live 4,000 people in one of the world’s densest concentrations.

Mitchell said seawater encroachments into vegetable growing pits is occurring but is not due to sea level rise.

"It could be something as simple as chopping down coconut trees. It could affect the hydrology of the atoll," he said.

The population density, and its associated pollution, might be destroying the atoll.

Mitchell points to Funafuti’s infamous "borrow pits," large holes filled with trash.

During the war the Japanese reached Tarawa in the then Gilberts. To turn them back the Americans secretly used Funafuti as a forward base and constructed an airfield by simply digging out a third of the main islet of Fongafale.

It has been known for years that Funafuti’s water table has suffered because of the pits and while Tuvalu used to appeal to the Americans to fix the pits, nothing has been done.

Mitchell believes that may be the real problem with the land degradation Tuvalu’s politicians blame on global warming.

"It’s not sea level rise. It cannot be," he said.

"It must be some other land use change that is going on."

He admits this is likely to be an unpopular view in the Pacific, now more used to blaming Australia than themselves.

Tuvalu’s potential fellow litigant, Kiribati, claims its capital, Tarawa, is sinking.

But when one visiting journalist pointed to the severe pollution, over-population and manmade changes to the islets, Kiribati President Teburoro Tito had the reporter declared an "undesirable immigrant."

NTF is also arguing against the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has warned of sea level rise.

Says NTF: "...over a major part of the world ocean ... the indication is that, over recorded history, sea level rise has occurred, but at a rate which falls significantly short of the IPCC world assessment."

Michael Field
New Zealand/South Pacific Correspondent
Agence France-Presse
E-mail: afp.nz@clear.net.nz
Phone: (64 21) 688438
Fax: (64 21) 694035
Website: http://www.afp.com/english/
Website: S'Pacific Watch

**Parihaka** · 05-18-2008, 19:09 PM

Tebua Tarawa
Tarawa is an atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, previously the capital of the former British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. It is the location of the capital of the Republic of Kiribati, South Tarawa. The island is known by outsiders as being the site of the Battle of Tarawa during World War II.

Bikeman Island is a submerged islet about a half-hours canoe ride Southeast of Betio, Kiribati. Due to changing currents and the construction of a causeway between Betio and Bairiki, Bikeman has been submerged since the early 1990s. If one were to stand on Bikeman today, he would have water up to his knees.[1] A picture of Bikeman circa 1976 is available on Flickr.

**Parihaka** · 05-18-2008, 19:13 PM

Unsurprisingly, when you subject tiny Islets made of sand accumulated on coral reefs to local human activity, they change.

dalem · 05-18-2008, 21:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parihaka

Unsurprisingly, when you subject tiny Islets made of sand accumulated on coral reefs to local human activity, they change.

UNBELIEVER!

\m/

-dale

gunnut · 05-19-2008, 13:44 PM

Any day now, we'll hear theories on how Atlantis didn't sink, but succumbed to the last great global warming 10,000 years ago.

brokensickle · 05-19-2008, 16:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blademaster

The Mauritius Islands. There are several islands that are in serious danger of being flooded due to rising sea levels.

Coral deteriorates at its older base and compresses under its own weight and then rebuilds at it top just below the low waterline. Any coral reef above current water level was once under water. Coral grows under water in warm climates. If temperatures dropped the coral reefs will deplete because tropical corals don't grow well in cold waters.

In many cases coral reefs edges create an overhang and under the stress of its own weight calves off.

In some areas of the world the reefs jut well over the high water mark, indicating that at one time the water was much higher and SUV's and coal fired powerplants were much more plentiful.

I wonder why the high tide line in the central coast of California hasn't risen a full inch in fourty years but islands are being covered in other seas? Strange indeed.

Ivan

brokensickle · 05-19-2008, 17:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunnut

I imagine most of those disappearing islands claims are due to erosion, especially islands with sandy beaches.

My local beach trucks in sand from other parts of the state to replace the ones washed away by tides. I remember seeing photos of (forgot what city) hotel resorts with sandy beaches in front of them 20 or 30 years ago, and the same hotel today with no beach in front of them. The ocean hasn't risen. The sand was washed away.

In the UAE Islands are being built in droves for tourism trade...Let's see... put land mass into water in Dubia and the sea level rises...Hmmm??? It may not amount to much but it does add to rise.

The more boats put into the sea creates displacement of water, the more German windwills put into the waters creates displacement, The more fat people that swim in the water around the globe creates displacement, Enviro-weiners in their many kayaks viewing the whales creats displacement and so it goes and the waters rise.

The answer is mining methel hyrate from our gulf sea regions.

Ivan

dalem · 05-19-2008, 18:19 PM

What the heck is Methyl hydrate? Is it sscrumptiouss? Is it crunchy? Is i it yummy, my Precioussss?

-dale

7thsfsniper · 05-19-2008, 18:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brokensickle

In some areas of the world the reefs jut well over the high water mark, indicating that at one time the water was much higher and SUV's and coal fired powerplants were much more plentiful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brokensickle

The more boats put into the sea creates displacement of water, the more German windwills put into the waters creates displacement, The more fat people that swim in the water around the globe creates displacement, Enviro-weiners in their many kayaks viewing the whales creats displacement and so it goes and the waters rise.

brokensickle · 05-19-2008, 18:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dalem

What the heck is Methyl hydrate? Is it sscrumptiouss? Is it crunchy? Is i it yummy, my Precioussss?

-dale

Well I spelt it wrong, It's methyl, not methel but it is simply a crystal of methane made in the deep blue sea. It can be our next major fuel source. It is also displacing water and making islands sink so if we mine it the UAE can make more islands and we can float more boats.

PS if we dam more rivers and create more hydro electric plants we can curb the rise of sea water by fresh water and erosion...Darn enviromentalist are causing the sea level to rise. Stop peeing in the sea! It's bringing up the level.

Ivan

7thsfsniper · 05-19-2008, 19:09 PM

And furthermore, here is another theory,

dalem · 05-19-2008, 22:24 PM

Hurricane, hurricane, who's got the hurricane?

Quote:

"Winds of Change [Andrew Stuttaford]

BBC News, July 30, 2007:

A new analysis of Atlantic hurricanes says their numbers have doubled over the last century. The study says that warmer sea surface temperatures and changes in wind patterns caused by climate change are fuelling much of the increase.

BBC News, May 18, 2008:

Hurricanes and tropical storms will become less frequent by the end of the century as a result of climate change, US researchers have suggested.

But the scientists added their data also showed that there would be a "modest increase" in the intensity of these extreme weather events."

Oops. Stupid douchebags.

-dale

brokensickle · 05-20-2008, 01:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dalem

What the heck is Methyl hydrate? Is it sscrumptiouss? Is it crunchy? Is i it yummy, my Precioussss?

-dale

Der Link Miester;

NOAA Ocean Explorer: Deep East

Ivan

brokensickle · 05-20-2008, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 7thsfsniper

And furthermore, here is another theory,

It was the finest Turkish tobacco that killed the dinosaurs.

So mild and tasty that no filter is required.

The Balakan Sobranies died with the dinosaurs and I've yet to understand why

I wouldn't smoke any thing else.

Ivan

05-19-2008, 13:44 PM	#261 (permalink)
gunnut *Senior Contributor* Join Date: 01-27-06 Location: DPRK, Democratik People's Republik of Kalifornia Posts: 9,867 Country:	Any day now, we'll hear theories on how Atlantis didn't sink, but succumbed to the last great global warming 10,000 years ago. __________________ "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

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05-18-2008, 18:41 PM	#256 (permalink)
dalem Lord High Hullabalooster *Senior Contributor* Join Date: 11-23-04 Location: Columbia Heights, MN Posts: 8,552 Country:	Well, the article about Bikeman mentions the Japanese causeway as being a primary factor and the barrier island piece talks about how groundwater removal is a largest factor. I don't think that can be shown to have anything to do with "global warming". -dale

05-18-2008, 19:09 PM	#258 (permalink)
Parihaka Moderator Join Date: 11-10-04 Location: Te Ika a Maui Posts: 9,728 Country:	Tebua Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, previously the capital of the former British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. It is the location of the capital of the Republic of Kiribati, South Tarawa. The island is known by outsiders as being the site of the Battle of Tarawa during World War II. Bikeman Island is a submerged islet about a half-hours canoe ride Southeast of Betio, Kiribati. Due to changing currents and the construction of a causeway between Betio and Bairiki, Bikeman has been submerged since the early 1990s. If one were to stand on Bikeman today, he would have water up to his knees.[1] A picture of Bikeman circa 1976 is available on Flickr.

05-18-2008, 19:13 PM	#259 (permalink)
Parihaka Moderator Join Date: 11-10-04 Location: Te Ika a Maui Posts: 9,728 Country:	Unsurprisingly, when you subject tiny Islets made of sand accumulated on coral reefs to local human activity, they change.

05-19-2008, 18:19 PM	#264 (permalink)
dalem Lord High Hullabalooster *Senior Contributor* Join Date: 11-23-04 Location: Columbia Heights, MN Posts: 8,552 Country:	What the heck is Methyl hydrate? Is it sscrumptiouss? Is it crunchy? Is i it yummy, my Precioussss? -dale

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