Stop spoiling my doom;-)

Hey, I like that idea. Put in the storm drains, route the seawater through your wastewater treatment plant, then pump it safely out to sea.

... except bathroom sinks and storm drains drain to a lower water mark. When water levels rise because of ice-melt, then where are you going to find a lower water level that'll take all that tidal displacement?

Florida is on loan from the sea.

But.. over the past 10 Millenia or so there have also been fairly large movements in sea level (not neccesarily abrupt) During the mid-holocene warm period circa 7000BP sea levels were up to 17m higher than they are now!

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002AGUFMGC21B0153M

Stable sea-levels are identified at 17-13 m asl during 7,000-5,500 yrBP

at 11-9 m during 5,000-4,500 14C yr BP, and at < 6 m after 4,000 14C yr BP

The rapid regression occurring between 5,400 yBP (4,100 calib. yrBP) and 4,000 yBP (2,700 calib. yrBP) suggests that some glacial loading had removed around here before 5,400 yBP (4,100 calib. yrBP).

Basically we went from 17m asl (above sea level) to 6m bsl (below sea level) at 4000yBP That is a decrease or change in sea level of 7.6mm per year! In fact it is astounding that sea levels were 17m ABOVE what they are now, not so long ago: 5000BC!

Marco.

The amount that sea levels can change is mind blowing. At the lowest point in the last ice age sea level was 120m (meters not centimetres) below its current level. That was only 20,000 years ago.

If you look at the Global Warming Art http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Post-Glacial_Sea_Level_png, it shows that sea levels have been very stable (2m change) for the last 5,000 years. This allowed us to establish settlements close to water without the need to periodically rebuild. I don't know if this has been researched, but I would guess that stable sea levels are critical to building the ports that allow trade to be established.

When people say that the climate has always been changing and that there is no need to worry now, they forget just how big the changes were compared to the tiny changes we have had during the entire existence of civilisation. Our current infrastructure was built using cheap energy. We have never experienced a mass migration of the infrastructure we use to support our existence, and I think we will find it very difficult in an era of scarce and expensive energy.

I don't remember what Rutledge exactly claims, but from previous discussions here I do remember this: his assumptions are not very believable.[Edited to b nice.] I'm fairly sure, for example, his predictions do not include 6C for doubling of CO2 nor the releases of carbon and methane from permafrost and seafloor hydrates. (Please correct me if I am wrong.) Anything not including those - carbon in the permafrost is now calculated to be equal to 100% of the total carbon now in the atmosphere - is out of date, if not buffoonery. Perhaps he'll update his work. I'd suggest people not post it until he does.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080901084854.htm
Thawing Permafrost Likely To Boost Global Warming, New Assessment Concludes
The study, by Edward A. G. Schuur of the University of Florida and an international team of coauthors, more than doubles previous estimates of the amount of carbon stored in the permafrost: the new figure is equivalent to twice the total amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The authors conclude that releases of the gas from melting permafrost could amount to roughly half those resulting from global land-use change during this century.

http://sapoton.idoo.com/m.html

...Warm and wet

Ed Dlugokencky, the scientist at Noaa's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) who collates and analyses data from atmospheric monitoring stations, agrees that the 2007 rise has a biological cause.

"We're pretty sure it's not biomass burning; and I think 2007 is probably down to wetland emissions," he said.

"In boreal regions it was warmer and wetter than usual, and microbes there produce methane faster at higher temperatures."

Dr Dlugokencky also suggested that the drastic reduction in summer sea ice around the Arctic between 2006 and 2007 could have increased release of methane from seawater into the atmosphere.

Gas ring. Image: PA

A further possibility is that the gas is being released in increasing amounts from permafrost as temperatures rise.

Researchers will be keeping a close eye on this year's data which will indicate whether 2007 was just a blip or the beginning of a sustained rise.

Methane concentrations had been more or less stable since about 1999 following years of rapid increases, with industrial reform in the former Soviet bloc, changes to rice farming methods and the capture of methane from landfill sites all contributing to the levelling off...

The amount of the gas held in oceanic hydrates is thought to be larger than the Earth's remaining reserves of natural gas.

http://www.thelocal.se/14032/20080830/

http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/cem/ine/walter/thermokarst.xml

http://www.aftertek.com/arctic-ice-meltdown-caused-by-release-of-methane...

As a note: your baseline researcher for climate change should not be an outlier. I suggest Hansen (though some likely consider his conclusions outliers) as he has been... um... what do you call it?.... Correct!

Cheers