Feb 2022 Updated NOAA Report on Sea Level Rise
Details with good graphics which include visualizing 10″ of sea level rise which uses the tool already posted below. Also includes details about population affected and much more
Jan 2022
New app from NOAA helps to show dangers of sea level rise. Below shows Santa cruz with 10 feet of sea level rise – now considered possible by 2100
Massive melting of glaciers has tilted the planet’s rotation
Apr 23, 2021, Interesting and scary new guardian article
Resilient Coast Program Santa Cruz
Materials and the recording from the Nov 17, 2020 workshop are now available. The City anticipates the draft plan and policies resulting from this Initiative to go to commissions in Feb. and City Council in March. The public will be alerted and encouraged to participate in public comment.
November 17, 2020 Virtual Community Workshop Slide Deck November 17, 2020 Virtual Community Workshop Questions + Answers / Meeting Polling November 17, 2020 Virtual Community Workshop Video – Part 1 (presentations + ) November 17, 2020 Virtual Community Workshop Video – Part 2 (extended Q/A )
Please see all other working documents in the left side document box at www.cityofsantacruz.com/ResilientCoast
Antarctica Glaciers
Great new website about current science on the melting continent – Antarctica
Recent video suitable for general audiences by John Englander, a glaciologist. Discusses possible 5-10 feet of Sea Level Rise by 2020.
One third of Bangladesh was recently under water. Details in this guardian Article sep 2020
Detailed article with the millions of people who will be affected at various levels of Sea Level Rise (SLR)
Storm Surge video – very scary
LA Times article about how the interactions of sea level rise with ground water will cause flooding in areas away from the ocean, as well as increase salt water intrusion.
If you haven’t previously studied Sea Level Rise watch this 6 min video introduction – Meltwater Pulse 2B and read this 2019 Scientific American Article by Richard Alley. There are loads more links below most of them recent and all relevant.
Greenland’s Glaciers are all Shrinking
Aug 2020 article with says that the warming Greenland ice sheet has passed point of no return.
Aug 20, 2020, NY Times piece with lots of details about Greenland ice loss.
unsettling news about sea level rise
The eastern Antarctic Wilkes Basin ice sheet seems to have receded during a warming event about 400,000 years ago—such a loss could add an additional 13 feet to sea level rise in the future. More details here and also here . Posted 7/23/20
New Flood Risk Site June 2020
This site will open at 812 Pacific Ave but you can edit that – lots of detailed flood risk info.
IPCC Aug 2019
Chasing Ice Video
Largest glacier calving ever filmed” Produced by Adam Lewinter & Exposure Lab https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXe7T4SQNts
The Insurance Industry is in Denial
The insurance industry article downplays the risks of sea level rise using phony science.
Problems in East Antarctica
Washington post article about the Denman Glacier in East Antarctica and potential future Sea Level Rise
The Challenges of Rising Seas
Well done video (23 mins) featuring Gary Griggs and including many Monterey Bay area examples. Shows details of good examples of “managed retreat”.
Sea Level Rise – SF and Manila
Well written NY Times article detailing CURRENT problems on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, includes excellent photos.
Sea Level Rise Impacts Update – 220 million people by 2050
A new report by Climate Central using improved elevation data shows serious impacts in many large Asian cities
A Glacier the Size of Florida Is Becoming Unstable. It Has Dire Implications for Global Sea Levels
Link to this TIME article with good short videos 8/25/19
News on Sea Level Rise
On new 30 minute video including many major scientists 8/17/19
New report discusses possibility of sea level rise ABOVE 6 FEET by 2100. With increased fracturing and under-melting, this is hardy a surprise but will potentially affect hundreds of millions of people world wide. 5/24/19
One of Tiffany Wise-West’s creative outreach endeavors. Excellent material from the Middlebury Institute, Monterey on Sea Level Rise in Santa Cruz – Click on the play button on the second image. Hope to see this in virtual reality soon.
This is my local Mitchell cove before and after. 4/7/19
More on Sea Level Rise AND storm surge and more energetic waves3/22/19
Good Article about Climate Change and Oceans and Coastlines, from Middlebury Institute, Monterey titled
“Putting the Blue in the Green New Deal” 3/21/19
News from Antarctica seems increasingly grim. Meanwhile someone local posted this sign at 9th and East Cliff. Science now indicates it may happen way sooner than 2100. Would love to get in touch with whoever made and set up the sign! 3/21/19
Excellent but scary National Geographic article on the Thwaites Glacier 3/12/19
Added March 2018 – After UCSC Climate Conference
Hothouse Earth – similar material to UCSC presentation one, showing palm trees in the arctic
Force Majeure – work by Newton Harrison includes excellent predictions of sea level rise an the SF Bay area
Sea Level Rise Santa Cruz County 2017
1. SLR FINAL REPORT by Gary Griggs and others (71 pages)
2. 2016 Student Research Project – sea-level rise brochure by Erica Sumner, Environmental Studies Student University of California Santa Cruz
Why is the sea rising?
People are creating too much air pollution in the form of carbon dioxide and other gasses. It’s filling up the sky and trapping too much heat from the sun so the earth is warming up like a greenhouse. Land ice in the north and south poles is melting into the ocean so the water is rising and our beaches are going to get smaller.
As sea-levels rise, the city of Santa Cruz will also experience an increased incidence of severe flooding near the riverbank including downtown and the beach flats neighborhood.
The water table near the riverbank is already close to the surface so businesses that currently pump the water away may not be able to continue to do so.
Estimated Rise
Last century, the sea rose approx. one foot
By 2030, 1 foot of rise is likely.
By 2050, 2 feet of rise is likely
By 2100 6 feet of rise is likely and downtown Santa Cruz may be flooded at high tide.
If ice-sheets fail to stabilize, the sea will rise fifty feet by 2500 and downtown Santa Cruz would be under water.
Eventual melting of all land and mountain ice would result in 230 feet of rise and most of the city of Santa Cruz would be under water.
Sea-level rise is highly likely to continue but we have the opportunity to affect its rate in the future. It depends on whether we continue to pollute at current levels. We still have the chance to help make a difference.
Thanks to Russel Brutsche for his beautiful art and Erica Sumner for her hard work
3. Projections for local areas from https://choices.climatecentral.org
Santa Cruz Climate Action Network 