Pirate's Cove

Another day, another activist study from members of the Cult of Climastrology. Memeorandum has the big pull with an opinion piece disguised as a news article entitled Seas Are Rising at Fastest Rate in Last 28 Centuries by hyper-Warmist Justin Gillis. I prefer the NJ.com article, which I saw last night (you can often find me commenting there under the name DevilUKnow), but, let’s look at the AP article by another hyper-Warmist, Seth Borenstein, due to it’s brevity

Sea levels on Earth are rising several times faster than they have in the past 2,800 years and are accelerating because of man-made global warming, according to new studies.

An international team of scientists dug into two dozen locations across the globe to chart gently rising and falling seas over centuries and millennia. Until the 1880s and the world’s industrialization, the fastest seas rose was about 1 to 1.5 inches (3 to 4 centimeters) a century, plus or minus a bit. During that time global sea level really didn’t get much higher or lower than 3 inches above or below the 2,000-year average.

But in the 20th century the world’s seas rose 5.5 inches (14 centimeters). Since 1993 the rate has soared to a foot per century (30 centimeters). And two different studies published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said by 2100 that the world’s oceans will rise between 11 to 52 inches (28 to 131 centimeters), depending on how much heat-trapping gas Earth’s industries and vehicles expel.

A couple things to note. First off, a good chunk of the last 2,800 years encompassed multiple cool and warm periods, so a lower rate of rise would be a certainty. Second, they are playing semantics games with averages over that period of time in order to make it appear as if a 5.5 inch increase during the 20th Century is abnormal.

Third, we have to consider that most studies found that the sea rise during the 20th was 7 inches. I’ve mentioned many, many times that the average sea rise over the last 7,000 years is estimated to be 6-8 inches per century (that time frame is used due to the calming of the massive sea rise due to the end of the last glacial age 20,000 years ago, which lasted till about 7,000 years ago). Think back to school math classes on how to get an average. Since Holocene cool periods will see low to negative sea rise, warm periods must be much higher, estimated to be in the range of 12-20 inches per century. So, 5.5 inches is actually below average. Can we cancel the Doom now?

Fourth, this is all about scaremongering. The Cult of Climastrology has pulled this schtick many, many times. 11-52 inches more by 2100? That’s a hell of a spread, and not particularly scientific. Sea level rise has actually slowed since 2004.

Fifth, despite no proof, all the articles I linked, and many others, immediately blame Mankind, as does the lead author

“There’s no question that the 20th century is the fastest,” said Rutgers earth and planetary sciences professor Bob Kopp, lead author of the study that looked back at sea levels over the past three millennia. “It’s because of the temperature increase in the 20th century which has been driven by fossil fuel use.”

Does anyone want to bet that Kopp and the others involved in the study have not given up their own use of fossil fuels?

Jonathan Overpeck at the University of Arizona, who wasn’t part of the studies, praised them, saying they show a clear cause and effect between warming and sea level rise.

True. But, that doesn’t prove anthropogenic causation. It doesn’t prove CO2 is the control knob. It just proves that seas rise during a Holocene warm period, not why. It also proves that sea rise is lower than the average, and that we should all relax. There’s no need to allow government to implement massive tax schemes, along with more and more control of our lives, private entities, and economies. Not for a measly 5.5 inches of sea rise.