Augustus (UR) - Arguing with Thermometers

While continuing my research on water level variation in Florida, I've stumbled across some very interesting articles. Now the common belief, by who you ask, is that the growing change in sea level is due to growing global temperatures that are increasing water temperatures and melting the polar ice caps, which in my opinion I agree with, but through my research I've learned that there is so much more. I was always so confused when Dr. Woodall wouldn't say this is a "Climate Change” project and now I see why, it's one of the reasons why I couldn't complete my midterm proposal because I wasn't quite sure what my project was looking for.

In a study produced in Geophysical Research Letters, undertaken by the university of Florida the sea levels in the south eastern United States have risen almost 6x faster than the national average through the years 2011 - 2015 and it has less to do with Climate Change than we thought. 

This Graph shows an average sea level increase of 3.2 mm/year

17 of the 18 warmest years in history have occurred since 2001

What is the cause? Well there are a few basic causes one being the melting of land-based ice and two the expansion of water. Now, in water like in most molecules as the temperature increases so does the space between the atoms as they gain more kinetic energy, thus causing an expansion in water, this according to NASA sea level division can cause an increase in sea levels from 0.4 to 0.8 mm. Those two can be attributed to Climate Change but the extreme increase in water level can also be attributed to natural occurring events exacerbated by increased Global Temperatures. These are El Niño which brings warmer air and increased rainfall over the oceans causing localized sea level increases to the south eastern United States and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) which concentrates that warmer air and water by causing a reduction in the atmospheric pressure which can greatly affect water levels. The NAO is a weather phenomenon of atmospheric pressures at sea level between Iceland and The Azores.

Water Level increases during El Nino

 With all this put together sea level rise could increase in Florida faster than anticipated. 

Valle‐Levinson, Arnoldo, et al. “Spatial and Temporal Variability of Sea Level Rise Hot Spots over the Eastern United States.” Geophysical Research Levels, vol. 44, no. 15, 16 Aug. 2017, pp. 7876–7882.

NASA. “Global Climate Change.” NASA, NASA, 3 June 2014, climate.nasa.gov/.

NASA. “Sea Level Change.” NASA, NASA, 3 June 2014, sealevel.nasa.gov/.

“Sea-Level Rise in Florida.” Florida Sea Grant, www.flseagrant.org/climate-change/sea-level-rise/.