Climate Change: Gnarly Dude!

by Cameron Scott · 2010-01-26 13:08:00 UTC
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Recent debate about the fate of glaciers in various parts of the world isn't just idle chatter: More melted glaciers mean more water in the oceans, which means more land mass underwater.

Even so, debate about sea levels may be missing the point. What should really worry us is how big the biggest waves are. Before coastlines are flooded, they will become uninhabitable due to wild winter storms.

And the waves are already getting bigger on the West Coast of the United States, according to research published in Coastal Engineering and reported by Mother Jones. A 100-year wave in the Pacific Northwest has gone from 33 feet to 46 feet, and smaller waves are growing as well.

While that may be good news for big-wave surfers, it's bad news for coastal residents: Erosion and flooding have increased three-fold.

And, yes, climate change is most likely to blame. Meanwhile, the latest research suggests that the warming climate won't bring more hurricanes and typhoons, as once thought, but rather worse ones, with more of the same result: gnarled coastlines.

Photo credit: NOAA via Wikimedia Commons

Cameron Scott writes The Thin Green Line blog at SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle).
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