Seaports With Sea Level Change - 2

Hong Kong and the gang

I. Finally

Today's overdue post is specifically about the multiple coastline code countries which the first post of this series did not include (Seaports With Sea Level Change).

That is partly because of wanting to keep post sizes down, and because the multiple coastline code countries have more diverse coasts.

For example, some countries have an east coast and a west coast, others have a north coast and a south coast, while yet others like Australia have all four (NEWS).

II. "One Size Fits All"?

The sea level change (SLC) can be more stark in multiple coastline code scenarios, which puts even more pressure on nations to seriously consider the differences in impact on their

China: coastline code 610, zone 1211

seaports now and in the future.

Concerning seaports, one size does not fit all, because a seaport with SLF faces the opposite challenge as one with SLR.

For example, some coastline codes can have SLC composed of sea level fall (SLF) while another has sea level rise (SLR), or even both when the coastline crosses the hinge point (The Evolution and Migration of Sea Level Hinge Points, 2).

This happens all over the world (Proof of Concept, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).

Port Authorities around the globe say that they are involved in becoming more aware:

"The mission of the World Ports Climate Initiative is to:

Raise awareness in the port and maritime community of need for action

Initiate studies, strategies and actions to reduce GHG emissions and improve air quality

Provide a platform for the maritime port sector for the exchange of information thereon

Make available information on the effects of climate change on the maritime port environment and measures for its mitigation"

(World Ports Environment Committee). Note that since beginning their mission "GHG emissions" went to an all time high of 415+ ppm recently, so they too are losing the battle against Oil-Qaeda.

Meanwhile, following continuing flooding of one of their ports, reality is one of the surprising things in the age of American denialism posing as conservative progression:

"What’s weird about such methodological conservatism is that a 2016 paper in the prestigious science journal Nature co-authored by a Bay State geoscientist says the lower figures that all the city’s climate reports are using already look to be wildly optimistic.
...
“Boston is a bull’s-eye for more sea level damage,” said Rob DeConto, a climate scientist at UMass Amherst who helped develop the new Antarctica research and who co-wrote the new Boston report. “We have a lot to fear from Antarctica.” … If high levels of greenhouse gases continue to be released into the atmosphere, the seas around Boston could rise as much as 10.5 feet by 2100 and 37 feet by 2200, according to the report."

(The Seaport Flood). I expect some of the denialism of officialdumb to say at a rah rah rally something like "if they did not believe in climate change it would not be happening."

III. The Appendices

The appendices to today's post begin with:

"I. Tables of Seaports & Tide Gauge Stations 
II. sorted by Country, Coastal id, and WOD Zone
III. A summary indicating distances to ice sheets/glacier fields
IV. Sea level change factors
V. Estimated Cryosphere ice loss, and ghost water relocation."

Those Appendices are: A-C, D-G, H-L, M-O, P-T, U-Z.

IV. The Graphs

China: coastline code 610, Zone 1311

There are so many potential graphs that I could only fit in a portion of them.

So, I chose three from China (usually has six of the ten busiest ports) and two from the USA (has six coastline codes) for your perusal.

The gist of the graphs is that they show the variation in SLC (even in the same country sometimes) over long spans of time (Cryosphere melt varies to cause SLC variation).

But more than that, I included the DNA ("Defining Natural Attributes") type of graph, using blue instead of black for the fill-in color today (Beyond Fingerprints: Sea Level DNA, 2, 3).

China: coastline code 610, Zone 1312

I use the "fill-in" to more readily show the span or scope of the variation of the SLR vs SLF from year to year so as to reveal the "tug-o-war" characteristics between SLR and SLF sources of influence on SLC.

As I wrote in the first post of this series, this adds additional difficulties to those who are port officials.

USA: coastline code 760, Zone 7215

They are tasked with the future of the ports they oversee, and most likely their toughest job is to chose which projection to adhere to while forming a reaction to SLC.

Most likely they will have two categories of effort: 1) stop SLC at the source by advocating abandonment of the cause of SLC, which means weaning ourselves off of fossil fuel use, and 2) preparing for negative consequences in the mean time.

USA: coastline code 821, Zone 7614

Those tasks are quite daunting to say the least.

Those who poo poo the reality of the dangers lying ahead are in for a tough go of it.

As has been said about these types of problems "it is better to err on the safe side than on the side of calamity" (The Extinction of Robust Sea Ports, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11).

 V. Closing Comments

This post is a public service of Dredd Blog.

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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A horse with no name ..

"After nine days I let the horse run free
'Cause the desert had turned to sea
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
there was sand and hills and rings
The ocean is a desert with it's life underground
And a perfect disguise above
Under the cities lies a heart made of ground
But the humans will give no love"

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