How will we face the danger of rising seas?

Tim Folger an American science and nature writer, contributing editor at the Discover Magazine and a science writer for other magazines, wrote an article about sea-levels rice in September 2013 issue of National Geographic.  In this article “Rising Seas”  he argues that

“A profoundly altered planet is what our fossil-fuel-driven civilization is creating, a planet where Sandy-scale flooding will become more common and more destructive for the world’s coastal cities. By releasing carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, we have warmed the Earth by more than a full degree Fahrenheit over the past century and raised sea level by about eight inches. Even if we stopped burning all fossil fuels tomorrow, the existing greenhouse gases would continue to warm the Earth for centuries. We have irreversibly committed future generations to a hotter world and rising seas.

In May the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 400 parts per million, the highest since three million years ago. Sea levels then may have been as much as 65 feet above today’s; the Northern Hemisphere was largely ice free year-round. It would take centuries for the oceans to reach such catastrophic heights again, and much depends on whether we manage to limit future greenhouse gas emissions. In the short term scientists are still uncertain about how fast and how high seas will rise. Estimates have repeatedly been too conservative.”

“Six years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report predicting a maximum of 23 inches of sea-level rise by the end of this century. ………….. As the IPCC prepares to issue a new report this fall, in which the sea-level forecast is expected to be slightly higher, gaps in ice-sheet science remain. But climate scientists now estimate that Greenland and Antarctica combined have lost on average about 50 cubic miles of ice each year since 1992—roughly 200 billion metric tons of ice annually. Many think sea level will be at least three feet  (about 90cm) higher than today by 2100. Even that figure might be too low.”

Folger discusses with engineers, scientists, architects and citizens from New York, Miami, New Orleans and Rotterdam, Netherlands about the factors contributing to sea-level rise and the current projections. One of the scientists being interviewed for the article was Gavin Foster, a geochemist at the National Oceanography Centre,  University of Southampton and Principal Investigator of the Descent into the Icehouse Project. Gavin says that

“With business as usual, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will reach around a thousand parts per million by the end of the century. …..Such concentrations haven’t been seen on Earth since the early Eocene epoch, 50 million years ago, when the planet was completely ice free. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, sea level on an iceless Earth would be as much as 216 feet higher than it is today. It might take thousands of years and more than a thousand parts per million to create such a world—but if we burn all the fossil fuels, we will get there.

No matter how much we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, we’re already locked in to at least several feet of sea-level rise, and perhaps several dozens of feet, as the planet slowly adjusts to the amount of carbon that’s in the atmosphere already. A recent Dutch study predicted that the Netherlands could engineer solutions at a manageable cost to a rise of as much as five meters, or 16 feet. Poorer countries will struggle to adapt to much less. At different times in different places, engineering solutions will no longer suffice. Then the retreat from the coast will begin. In some places there will be no higher ground to retreat to.”

Read the article here

Scientists on the Road travel to Science Festivals

It was an interesting summer for Scientists on the Road. We participated in two big science events.  At the Big Bang Near Me@Bournemouth and Poole and the Winchester Science Festival.

 Scientists on the road  tried with an easy and fun hands-on activity to explain to students and future scientists Ocean Acidification and its impact on the ocean and sea organisms.

Eleni, Greame and Migue at The Big Bang Near Me event @Bournemouth and Poole

Approximately one quarter of carbon dioxide emitted by humans in the air is absorbed by the ocean. This alters the chemical composition of the sea: a more acidic water threatens the life conditions of organisms whose skeletons or cells are made of calcium carbonate, such as phytoplankton, snails, mussels or, more evident to the human eye, corals. In order to explain children how Ocean Acidification works, we used red cabbage juice, a safe acid/base indicator which reacts in a clear manner to the introduction of CO2 by changing colour.

The star of the show was some red cabbage juice. We poured a very small volume of the cooled juice into test tubes and we asked children to blow through a drinking straw repeatedly for a few minutes until they could see the cabbage juice turn noticeably pinker that the juice in the bottle.

What has happened?  The carbon dioxide in the breath combined with the water in the cabbage juice (cabbage is an acid indicator) to form carbonic acid, causing the pH of the solution to drop and the cabbage juice to turn pink.

Why this is interesting? About a quarter of the carbon dioxide released by activities like burning fossils fuels is absorbed by oceans and as a result the ocean water becomes more acidic, like the cabbage juice in the experiment.

Our simple experiment was particularly successful; the children and some of their teachers too, had a lot of fun blowing into the cabbage juice and after the experiment they told us that they now have a better understanding of what ocean acidification is and why it is important.

It was great a experience for us all, as well. The experiment stimulated the imagination of the young students and during the lively discussion afterwards they were able to offer us some out of box thinking and we came up with some rather pioneering ideas and innovative solutions of how to combat ocean acidification.

Participants