Rising sea levels are increasing the risk of flooding along the south coast of England
October 9, 2009
This image shows flooding at Cowes on the Isle of Wight, UK. Credit: Centre for Coastal Processes, Engineering and Management
A new study by researchers at the University of Southampton has found that sea levels have been rising across the south coast of England over the past century, substantially increasing the risk of flooding during storms.
The team has conducted a major data collection exercise, bringing together computer and paper-based records from across the south of England, from the Scilly Isles to Sheerness, to form a single data set of south coast sea levels across the years.
Their work has added collectively about 150 years worth of historic data to the existing record of English Channel sea-level change and extended the data along the south coast. Their findings are published in the latest edition of the journal Continental Shelf Research.
The data shows that both average sea levels and extreme sea levels have been rising at a similar rate through the 20th Century. The rate of rise is in the range 1.2 to 2.2 mm per year, with 1.3 mm per year recorded at Southampton.
This image shows flooding at Gurnard on the Isle of Wight, UK. Credit: Centre for Coastal Processes, Engineering and Management
Coastal engineering expert Professor Robert Nicholls, of the University's School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, who conducted the study, comments: "While these changes seem small, over a century they accumulate and substantially increase the risk of flooding during storms, unless there have been corresponding upgrades to flood defences. A water level that had an average likelihood of occurring once every 100 years in 1900 now has an average likelihood of occurring on average every 10 to 25 years, depending on the site considered. As sea levels continue to rise and probably accelerate, this increase in the likelihood of flooding will continue."The most significant extension to the records is that of sea level changes at Southampton where the record now begins in 1935.
Paper-based records at St Mary's on the Isles of Scilly, Weymouth, Southampton and Newhaven have been used to greatly extend existing computer-based records, while the records at Devonport and Portsmouth have both been extended and corrected for pervious errors of interpretation.
This new data is feeding into ongoing efforts to increase the understanding and management of flooding.
Source: University of Southampton
-
Researchers Study Coastal Hazards of Increasing Wave Heights, Rising Sea Levels
Oct 10, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Gulf bay double whammy: rising seas, dammed rivers
Oct 23, 2006 |
not rated yet |
0
-
'Noah's flood' kick-started European farming
Nov 19, 2007 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Close relationship between past warming and sea-level rise
Jun 22, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Rising Sea Greater Danger to Louisiana than Sinking Land
Nov 27, 2006 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (33) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (5) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
-
Do some geologists actually act a lot like Randy Marsh?
Feb 11, 2012
-
Discrepancy between oxygen and carbon-dioxide levels
Feb 09, 2012
-
where gems are found in the world
Feb 09, 2012
-
Wind Waves in Reservoir ~ Wind run-up and Wind set-up
Feb 08, 2012
-
Balance of oxygen in the atmosphere
Feb 01, 2012
-
The case for a methanol-based economy
Jan 30, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - Earth
More news stories
Transforming galaxies
(PhysOrg.com) -- Many of the Universe's galaxies are like our own, displaying beautiful spiral arms wrapping around a bright nucleus. Examples in this stunning image, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on ...
48 minutes ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
|
A continent ablaze in auroral and manmade light
The North American continent is literally set ablaze in a confluence of Auroral and Manmade light captured in spectacular new videos snapped by the astronauts serving aboard the International Space Station ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
41 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
A better picture of clouds
Some of us look at clouds and see animal shapes. Scientists are looking beyond. For the first time, a team of scientists led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory used actual measurements of clouds and ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
43 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
Scientists drill two miles down to ancient Lake Vostok
(PhysOrg.com) -- Russian scientists last week finished penetrating more than two miles through the Antarctic ice sheet to Lake Vostok, a huge freshwater lake that has been buried under the ice for millions ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
32 minutes ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Earth-facing sunspot doubles in size
The latest sunspot region to traverse the face of the Sun has nearly doubled in size as it aims Earthward, as seen in the animation above from NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory. (Click image to play the ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
1 hour ago |
not rated yet |
0
'Smart' microcapsules in a single step
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new, single-step method of fabricating microcapsules, which have potential commercial applications in industries including medicine, agriculture and diagnostics, has been developed by researchers ...
New ability to regrow blood vessels holds promise for treatment of heart disease
(Medical Xpress) -- University of Texas at Austin researchers have demonstrated a new and more effective method for regrowing blood vessels in the heart and limbs a research advancement that could have ...
Ethanol mandate not the best option
Many people are willing to pay a premium for ethanol, but not enough to justify the government mandate for the corn-based fuel, a Michigan State University economist argues.
Nanostructured electrodes for rechargeable sodium-Ion batteries
Highly efficient 3V cathodes for rechargeable sodium-ion batteries have been developed by users from Argonne National Laboratory's Materials Science, Chemical Sciences & Engineering, and X-ray Sciences Divisions, ...
New tumor suppressor gene identified
A recent study published in Clinical Cancer Research suggests that the protein hVps37A suppresses tumor growth in ovarian cancer. The work, which was funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, shows, for th ...
A lost world? How zooarchaeology can inform biodiversity conservation
A new study of tropical forests will provide a 50,000-year perspective on how animal biodiversity has changed, explored through an archaeological investigation of animal bones.

Oct 09, 2009
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
Oct 10, 2009
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
The latest measurements show a slowing in sea level rise. Also, on a centenial basis it has been steady over the last couple of thousand years.
The British Government is running a full series of propaganda programs on TV at prime time because "not enough of the people (sheeple?) believe AGW will effect them". Is this part of it?
Oct 10, 2009
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
You are talking measurements over barely more than a year. Not enough to call a trend.
Not true.
Sea level rose about 0.4 meters from -1000 CE through 1100 CE (for an average rate of about 0.2 mm/year), held roughly stable from 1100 CE through about 1850 CE and has risen 0.2 meters since 1850 CE (for an average rate of around 1.3 mm/year). A rate of increase easily 6 times faster than seen any other time in the last 2000 years.
For the last 20 years the average rate of rise has been even higher: 3 mm/year. Or more than twice as fast as the average from 1850 CE through the present.