Would you be underwater if the polar caps melted? Map reveals what our planet would look like if sea levels rose by 260ft

www.halcyonmaps.com/the-world-rising-sea-level/
Martin Vargic, an amateur graphic designer from Slovakia, has created this map to depict how the planet will look with sea levels around 260ft (79m) higher than they are today.

Information panels outside the main map show 2013 population by country, 2100 population by country as well as countries with highest and lowest fertility rates

From DailyMail by Ellie Zolfagharifard   

• Martin Vargic created the map to depict the planet with sea levels around 260ft (79m) higher than they are today
• Current coastlines are shown using a dotted line and the areas that will be submerged by water are unshaded
• In Europe, towns including London, Amsterdam and Berlin would completely disappear as the sea level rises
• In the U.S., large parts of the east coast would be submerged including Miami, New Orleans and Washington
• The Amazon would bursts its banks engulfing parts of Brazil, and a huge chunk of Australia would be swamped

Global sea levels have risen by 8 inches (20cm) since 1880 and scientists predict they could rise up to 3ft (98cm) by 2100.
But despite the UN’s recent threats of war, famine and extreme weather, such a dramatically different world caused by sea level rise can be hard to imagine.
To help picture the future, Martin Vargic, an amateur graphic designer from Slovakia, has created a map depicting the planet with sea levels around 260ft (79m) higher than they are today.


He imagines what Earth would look like if the ice sheets surrounding the North and South poles melted, releasing five million cubic miles of water into the world's oceans.
Whilst at first glance it doesn't seem much different to a map of the world today, a closer looks shows huge unshaded areas swamped by water with today's existing coastlines depicted in dotted lines.

A close up of Europe reveals how more than half of England would disappear, including towns such as London and Leicester.
Amsterdam would also be submerged as would areas further inland such as Berlin in Germany.
In the U.S., large parts of the east coast would be submerged including New York, Houston, Miami, New Orleans and Washington.

The current coastlines are shown using a dotted line and the areas that will be submerged by water if the ice sheets surrounding the North and South poles melted are unshaded. 

This close up of Europe shows how more than half of England would disappear, including towns such as London and Leicester. Amsterdam would also be submerged as would areas further inland such as Berlin

 In the U.S., large parts of the east coast would be submerged including New York, Houston, Miami, New Orleans and Washington.

According to recent studies, there is enough ice in Earth's polar caps to cause a 250-300ft (80-100m) rise in sea level

In October, researchers at the University of Hawaii said that Earth is racing towards an apocalyptic future in which major cities such as New York and London could become uninhabitable.
The first U.S. cities to feel the changes would be Honolulu and Phoenix, followed by San Diego and Orlando, in 2046. New York and Washington will get new climates around 2047, with Los Angeles, Detroit, Houston, Chicago, Seattle, Austin and Dallas a bit later.
By 2043, 147 cities — more than half of those studied — will have shifted to a hotter temperature regime that is beyond historical records.
Meanwhile the Amazon would bursts its banks, becoming a sea and engulfing vast areas of Brazil, and a huge chunk of Australia would be swamped by the Artesian Sea and Murray Gulf.
'I worked on this map for about, gathering the data and rendering all the labels,' said Mr Vargic, speaking to MailOnline. 'It was entirely digitally hand-drawn, based on gathered topography data from Nasa.
'I was always interested in the future climate change and human influence on the global warming. I created these maps both to raise awareness about the global warming and also because nobody has yet done this on such a scale
‘According to recent studies, there is enough ice in Earth’s polar caps to cause about 250-300ft (80–100m) rise of the sea level,’ he said on his website.
‘Result of such an event would be catastrophic to human civilisation and Earth’s biosphere.’
More than 75 per cent of the world’s population lives below 300ft (100m) above the sea level, including the vast majority of all large urban areas.
As the warming gradually progresses, scientists predict that we will experience more and more extreme weather events.
Hurricanes, typhoons and massive floods will occur more frequently and on a much more devastating scale.
The world’s deserts will expand, engulfing areas as large as the entire continent of Australia, including Southern Europe, the Caribbean and entire southeast of Africa.
‘Although this scenario is extremely unlikely to happen within our lifetimes, the truth is, that climate is going to change sharply,’ claims Mr Vargic.
‘Unless we limit our CO2 emissions to bare minimum, Earth will be more than 4°C warmer in the year 2100 as it is now.

As the warming gradually progresses, scientists predict that we will experience more and more extreme weather events.

Hurricanes, typhoons and massive floods will occur more frequently and on a much more devastating scale.

The Amazon would burst its banks, engulfing huge areas in Brazil

A huge chunk of Australia would be swamped by the Artesian Sea and Murray Gulf.

World's deserts will expand, engulfing areas as large as the entire continent of Australia, including Southern Europe, the Caribbean and entire southeast of Africa

‘Such a rise in temperature would be destructive to environment and human civilisation as well.’
Scientists believe it could take around 5,000 years for temperatures to rise significantly enough to melt all the ice on the planet, but claim the planet is already seeing the beginnings of this.
Over the past century, reports suggest the Earth's temperature has increased by around half a degree Celsius and, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this has already caused sea levels to rise by around 7 inches (18cm).
The largest concentrations of ice on Earth are found in Greenland and Antarctica but it is also found on exposed areas, on mountain tops and in other regions.
The East Antarctica ice sheet, for example, is so large it contains around 80 per cent of all the ice on the planet and its size has protected it previously during warmer periods in Earth’s history.

Martin Vargic imagines what Earth would look like if the ice sheets surrounding the North and South poles - which contains five million cubic miles of frozen water - melted.Pictured here is the Antarctic without its polar ice

In Mr Vargic's depiction, the U.S. would shrink dramatically.A separate study found that if climate change continues, the first U.S. cities to feel extreme weather changes would be Honolulu and Phoenix, followed by San Diego and Orlando, in 2046

This includes during the Eocene epoch - a period of increased global temperatures that lasted from 56 to 34 million years ago.
During this period of time, little to no ice was present on Earth and there was little difference in temperature at the equator compared to the poles.
Warming oceans are already melting the floating ice sheet in west Antarctica and since 1992, and the sheet has lost around 65 million metric tonnes of ice each year.
In October, researchers at the University of Hawaii said that Earth is racing towards an apocalyptic future in which major cities such as New York and London could become uninhabitable.
It added that the scenario is too late to reverse and mankind needs to prepare for a world where the coldest years will be warmer than what we remember as the hottest.
With the climate change trend continuing, it argued that New York City will begin to experience dramatic, life altering temperatures by 2047, Los Angeles by 2048 and London by 2056.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/09/rising-seas/if-ice-melted-map
National Geographic recently created a series of maps similar to Mr Vargic's, demonstrating the catastrophic effect Earth's ice could cause if it melted and flowed into the oceans and seas.
If these ice sheets melted, the rest of the world would be affected.

In Europe, pictured, cities including London and Venice would be lost underwater, as would the whole of the Netherlands and most of Denmark.

It would also cause the Mediterranean to expand and swell the Black and Caspian Seas

The last time the Earth was ice-free was 34 million years ago during the Eocene epoch.

If this happened again, the entire Atlantic seaboard in the U.S would vanish, wiping out Florida and the Gulf Coast.

While the hills in San Francisco would become islands and San Diego would be lost forever

How Britain would look if the ice sheets melted.
A large proportion of the country would be left underwater

However, if harmful greenhouse emissions are stabilised, New York would be able to stave off the inevitable changes until 2072 and London until 2088.
The first U.S. cities to feel the changes would be Honolulu and Phoenix, followed by San Diego and Orlando, in 2046. New York and Washington will get new climates around 2047, with Los Angeles, Detroit, Houston, Chicago, Seattle, Austin and Dallas a bit later.
By 2043, 147 cities — more than half of those studied — will have shifted to a hotter temperature regime that is beyond historical records - in what is known as Climate Departure.
To help depict such changes, National Geographic recently created a series of maps similar to Mr Vargic’s, demonstrating the catastrophic effect Earth’s ice could cause if it melted and flowed into the oceans and seas.
These maps show how the entire Atlantic seaboard in the U.S would vanish, wiping out Florida and the Gulf Coast.
While the hills in San Francisco would become islands and San Diego would be lost forever.
In the east, China and Bangladesh would both be completely flooded, wiping out around 760 million people based on current population levels.
The coastlines of India would also be reduced.
In South America, the Amazon Basin and the Paraguay River Basin would both become Atlantic inlets and this would wipe out Buenos Aires, coastal Uruguay, and some of Paraguay.
The only areas that would survive are mountainous stretches along the Caribbean coast and in Central America.

Links :

• Halcyon Maps by Martin Vargic
• GeoGarage blog : Sea level anomalies interactive map launched / Surging seas maps sea level rise in Coastal U.S. / Interactive flood map predicts sea level rise

Seal of approval

Seal of Approval from Jason Neilus

These seals are young pups who are very curious about the area in which they live.

At the time of year that this was filmed the seals were about 2 months old and already 2m long and about 200-300lbs in weight.

As always once the seals get older and move off to form colonies of their own elsewhere and the majority of them will not see people again.

Fully adult seals are rarely this interactive and whilst tolerant of divers they tend to keep away after their first year of diver visits.

Stress and effect on a vessel in severe weather conditions

Stress and effect on a vessel in severe weather conditions.

Recorded during passage from Suez Canal to Singapore, recorded in June 2008.

Big shore break

Gas Chambers is a fast, hollow and shallow point break type of wave.

Being that it is a high performance wave it is well suited for the average to pro level surfer.

Sandy's beach is the host of Gas Chambers, located on the North Shore of Oahu about a 1/4 of a mile north of Ehukai Beach Park and 1/2 a mile west of Sunset Beach Park.

Frigid Winter? Blame 4,000 years of wild Jet Streams

The polar jet stream can travel at speeds greater than 100 mph.

Here, the fastest winds are colored red; slower winds are blue.

From LivScience by Becky Oskin

This winter's wild weather got its start 4,000 years ago, a new study finds.
The roaring jet stream, whose swooping winds drove frigid cold in the East and record warmth in the West this winter, first started twisting and turning about 4,000 years ago, according to a new analysis of ancient rainfall records from North America.
Jet stream winds race from west to east, and kinks in the narrow atmospheric current can suck Arctic cold south or hold warm air in place.

The study shows the jet stream's plunging pattern is a long-standing natural phenomenon.
However, the findings also suggest that global warming may boost the frequency or intensity of the curves, which would mean more winter extremes in the United States and Canada, the researchers said.
The study was published today (April 16) in the journal Nature Communications.

"The pattern we've observed points to a strong potential for an increase in winter extremes in the future," said Gabe Bowen, a study co-author and paleoclimatologist at the University of Utah.
Bowen and his co-authors examined the 8,000-year history of a weather pattern called the Pacific-North America Teleconnection.
The teleconnection refers to blobs of high and low atmospheric pressure above the Pacific Ocean and North America that direct the jet stream's strength and location.

Lead study author Zhongfang Liu, now at the Tianjin Key Laboratory in China, tracked the jet stream's location for the past 8,000 years with oxygen isotopes (atoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons) from caves and lake sediments.
The ratio of certain oxygen isotopes reveals the history of rainwater, such as how cold the air was when the water fell and where the water came from.
Looking at the rainwater's history helps trace the pattern of the jet stream, which drives storms across the continent.
The team also compared their rainfall records with tree ring records and more recent instrumental data.

What is the jet stream?

How does the jet stream affect our weather?

This animation explains how the jet stream works.

 The rainfall patterns reveal the jet stream was relatively "flat," moving straight and steady from about 8,000 to 4,000 years ago, the study reports.

Then, about 4,000 years ago, the amount of solar energy reaching the Northern Hemisphere dropped. (This drop was caused by Earth's 20,000-year precession, the slow change in its rotation axis.)

The change in the sun's energy altered worldwide climate, such as triggering a stronger El Niño/La Niña cycle and a shift in monsoonal rainfall over India and Pakistan.

The jet stream pattern also shifted 4,000 years ago, going from flat to curvy over a period of about 500 years, the researchers found.
For example, the isotopes show more Arctic air moving south in the East, and more tropical air heading north in the West, consistent with wrinkles in the jet stream.
The curves help explain why some parts of North America became colder or wetter, while others grew drier or warmer, Bowen said.
"We knew the changing seasonality of the climate in North America wasn't uniform, and we were able to link it to this change in the jet stream," Bowen said.

These maps show winter temperature patterns (top) and winter precipitation patterns (bottom) associated with a curvy jet stream.
Credit: Zhongfang Liu, Tianjin Normal University, China

Sun to blame?

So was this winter's bizarre weather the result of natural climate swings?
Not at all, Bowen said.
"All things being equal, with the solar forcing that kicked in 4,000 years ago, we'd actually expect to be heading the other way now and starting to decrease the jet stream curviness," Bowen told Live Science.

A short review of how the jetstream and Rossby waves work, and some emerging indications that the dynamics may be changing in a warming world.

Several recent studies have argued that the jet stream's twists and turns are being exacerbated by climate change.
That's because the jet stream's high-speed air current forms at the border between hot and cold air masses.
As global warming changes the distribution of hot and cold air on the planet, the location and pattern of the jet stream may change too.

"Whether the Pacific-North America Teleconnection will continue to vary in the future as it has for the past few thousand years will have important implications in terms of water availability and climate in the western United States," said Max Berkelhammer, a hydrologist at the University of Illinois, Chicago, who was not involved in the study

But until now, only a century of instrumental records have been available to model the jet stream's response to global warming.
The new study "gives us a good look at natural variability so that we can gain a better understanding about how the jet stream has responded to past changes," said Lesleigh Anderson, a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who was not involved in the study
"This is what we need to know to better understand what could happen in the future with rising carbon dioxide."