The Last Post

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and with the deadline for this blog looming it is time to wrap it up!

Having come into this blog with a reasonable understanding of SLC, I think I have come to appreciate how large the impacts of SLR could be. The processes and causes of SLC are now well understood however it is clear that uncertainty about the rate and magnitude of the individual contributions to SLC mean that not enough action is being taken to mitigate against SLC (apart from some countries... Well done the Netherlands!). This piece makes an interesting point about the link between uncertainty and inaction, while there is uncertainty around SLR it is definitely happening, the uncertainty is quite how bad it will be... 

Seeing how close so many people in Bangladesh and other places around the world are to being forced to migrate as a result of SLR it is going to become an increasing pressure on decreasing land mass. I shall leave you with this graph from the IPCC projecting SLR by 2100 under varying emissions scenarios. I'm slightly more positive today about the likelihood of emissions reductions following the news that China is about to plough $361 billion into renewable energy by 2020. So hopefully China's example will be followed, emissions will begin to fall somewhat, and we will be looking at better scenarios in the next IPCC report... Although some studies, particularly those using the semi-empirical modelling approach to SLC (e.g. Rahmstorf, 2007) project it could be much more by 2100, kinematic constraints on glacier melting suggest it will be no more than 2 m by 2100. 

IPCC predictions of SLC by 2100. Source

The potential rise in sea level could be devastating and as I contended in my first post, I still believe that SLC is one of the 'quiet' agents of Climate Change and far more awareness of the potential problems it will cause is required. As the Netherlands have showed, effective mitigation is possible but before people realise how compromising SLC can be, it could already be too late. Try and be prepared just like the Statue of Liberty is (below)!

Source