The previous posts in this series provide various graphs which show various details of tide gauge stations along the coasts of the United States (The US States of Sea Level Change, 2, 3).
I did that because sea level is usually covered in more generic areas such as oceans or satellite observations from space.
These state graphs bring it all home.
One of the main factors involved is how states work with federal agencies and foreign nations to try to deal with sea level change in their jurisdictions.
This working together or not also applies to seaports in states with coastlines.
The science within several realms has been impacted with reality cookies of different flavors lately.
Just in case you have not heard of the Oops120 yet:
"Because that is clearly not the case, the vacuum energy in the universe must be very small—about 120 orders of magnitude smaller than what quantum theory predicts. That’s like saying that something weighing five pounds should really weigh five-with-120-extra-zeros-after-it pounds. The discrepancy has prompted some scientists to call vacuum energy 'the worst theoretical prediction in the history of physics.'”
In oceanography the unexpected was like a tidal wave on a favorite beach:
"Quite recently in 2024, climate research has published alarming news: 'The world's oceans absorbed more heat in 2023 than in any other year since records began in the 1950s. … Data show that the heat stored in the upper 2000 m of oceans increased by 15 zettajoules (1 zettajoule is 1021 joules) in 2023 compared with that stored in 2022. This is an enormous amount of energy – for comparison, the world's total energy consumption in 2022 was roughly 0.6 zettajoules' (You, 2024: p. 434). Dividing this value by the global ocean surface area and by the duration of a year, the reported ocean's average warming rate amounts to 1.3 W m−2, and is apparently even increasing. 'Earth's net global energy imbalance (12 months up to September 2023) amounts to +1.9 W m−2, … ensuring further heating of the ocean' (Kuhlbrodt et al., 2024: p. E474). 'Climate models struggle to explain why planetary temperatures spiked suddenly. … No year has confounded climate scientists' predictive capabilities more than 2023. … This sudden heat spike greatly exceeds predictions made by statistical climate models' (Schmidt, 2024: p. 467)."
Thermodynamics is about, among other things, photons, which are the quanta of heat transfer:
"Radiant heat, also known as thermal radiation, is the transfer of electromagnetic radiation which describes the heat exchange of energy by photons. Radiant heat is a mechanism for heat transfer which does not require a medium in which it propagates (unlike convection and conduction).[2] All substances above absolute zero have thermal energy, which means that the particles contained in them have some form of motion. This motion of the particles contributes to the temperature of the object, with objects of "ordinary" temperatures (less than 1000 Kelvin) emitting their radiant heat primarily in the infrared spectrum of light.[2][3] The photons emitted by these moving charged particles will travel at the speed of light until they hit another particle, which absorbs its energy as kinetic energy. Interacting systems at different temperatures will do so by the exchange of radiant heat until they reach thermal equilibrium with one another. Although the exchange of photons doesn't stop at equilibrium, it cannot be noticed because of the identical temperature of the systems. "
"Dark energy" and/or "dark matter" are either the imagination, ignorance, or another "last frontier" of some quantum physicists (Small Brains Considered - 7).
They are like the once venerable Big Bang hypothesis and the growing "expansion or contraction" of the "universe" hypothesis.
In other words, the polls are not completely accurate concerning which is and which is not "true science".
Fig. 2 "It could happen ..."
If "dark energy" and "dark matter" are innate like "energy" and "matter" in the current "universe" then we can apply some timeworn science to them.
Fig 1 and Fig 2 are attempts to help us get the picture by showing dark energy as being outside of the visible photon spectrum as members of the "dark" (not visible light) ultraviolet, x ray, gamma ray, or other "dark" energy spectrum.
Such as:
"In physics, electromagnetic radiation (EMR)consists of waves of the electromagnetic (EM) field, which propagate through space and carry momentum and electromagnetic radiant energy.
Fig. 3 Mega-ranges
Classically, electromagnetic radiation consists of electromagnetic waves, which are synchronized oscillations of electric and magnetic fields. In a vacuum, electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light, commonly denoted c. There, depending on the frequency of oscillation, different wavelengths of electromagnetic spectrum are produced. In homogeneous, isotropic media, the oscillations of the two fields are on average perpendicular to each other and perpendicular to the direction of energy and wave propagation, forming a transverse wave.
Electromagnetic radiation is commonly referred to as "light", EM, EMR, or electromagnetic waves.
The position of an electromagnetic wave within the electromagnetic spectrum can be characterized by either its frequency of oscillation or its wavelength. Electromagnetic waves of different frequency are called by different names since they have different sources and effects on matter. In order of increasing frequency and decreasing wavelength, the electromagnetic spectrum includes: radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays."
(Wikipedia). In a recent Dredd Blog post current "true science" formulas and constants were applied to current "established science" (The Photon Current - 17).
One reason for this quandary may be that most electromagnetic photons within a wide array of energies is a type of "dark energy" (depending on the definition of 'dark'):
Electromagnetic Radiation
photon type
wave length
frequency
e
e per mole
photons Per Mole
mass equivalent
gammaray
1e-11
2.99792e+19
1.98645e-14
1.19627e+10
5.03412e+13
2.21022e-31
xray
1e-09
2.99792e+17
1.98645e-16
1.19627e+08
5.03412e+15
2.21022e-33
ultraviolet
1e-07
2.99792e+15
1.98645e-18
1.19627e+06
5.03412e+17
2.21022e-35
visible
5e-07
5.99585e+14
3.97289e-19
239253
2.51706e+18
4.42044e-36
infrared
0.0001
2.99792e+12
1.98645e-21
1196.27
5.03412e+20
2.21022e-38
microwave
0.1
2.99792e+09
1.98645e-24
1.19627
5.03412e+23
2.21022e-41
radio
10000
29979.2
1.98645e-29
1.19627e-05
5.03412e+28
2.21022e-46
The visible portion of the wide spectrum is small compared to the "dark" portion which is much wider (cf. Fig. 3).
