The sea is steadily rising, presently at ~3.4 mm/y, already costing Billions in Venice, on the Thames River and in New York City, to counter sea-level-related surges. Experts anticipate an accelerated rise, and credible predictions for sea level rise by the year 2100 range from 12 inches to above 6 feet. Study of the Earth's geologic history, through ice-core samples, links sea level rise to temperature rise. Since the lifetime of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is measured in centuries, and it has upset the balance of incoming and outgoing energy, the Earth's temperature will continue to rise, even if carbon burning ceases. Engineering the Earth's solar input appears increasingly attractive and practical as a means to lower Earth's temperature, and thus, to lower sea level. The cost of engineering the climate appears small, comparable, even, to the already-incurred costs of sea level rise represented by civil engineering projects in London, Venice and New York City. Feasible deployment of geoengineering, accompanied by some reduction in carbon burning, is predicted to lower the sea level by the order of one foot by 2100 AD, negating the expected rise, to provide an immense economic benefit. The accompanying lower global temperature would reduce the severity of extreme weather, and restore habitability to lethally hot parts of the world. This book is primarily conceived to aid and inform the educated citizen: aspects may also interest climate workers.
Author(s): Edward Wolf
Series: IOP Concise Physics
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 132
City: Bristol
PRELIMS.pdf
Preface
Author biography
Edward Wolf
CH001.pdf
Chapter 1 The sea-level threat exemplified by Miami and Venice
1.1 Introduction to the Anthropocene
1.2 The recent rise of sea level
The deployable 6 billion dollar sea gates of Venice
1.3 The River Thames flood barrier
1.4 The ‘Big U’ water fence for New York
1.5 Why Miami is more difficult
1.6 Amplification of sea-level threat by tides, storm-surges and the high vapor pressure of warm water
1.7 Quantifying damages and liabilities: fractional attributable risk
References
CH002.pdf
Chapter 2 Carbon burning has ‘engineered’ a new era of high temperature and high sea level
2.1 Radiation balance sets Earth temperature
2.1.1 Stefan–Boltzmann law of radiation from hot matter
2.1.2 Earth temperature
2.2 The greenhouse gas discoveries of Tyndall and Arrhenius
2.2.1 Properties of Earth’s atmosphere
2.2.2 Direct observation of the greenhouse effect
2.3 Carbon dioxide rose during the fossil fuel era from 280 ppm to 410 ppm
2.4 Temperature and sea level rises are accelerating, will there be a tipping point?
References
CH003.pdf
Chapter 3 Instability of Earth climate and sea level
3.1 The ice core record of 420 000 years
3.2 Sea level rise since the last glaciation
3.3 The ‘Hothouse Earth’: an earlier era of high sea level
3.3.1 The euxinic ocean
3.3.2 The role of volcanism
References
CH004.pdf
Chapter 4 What was learned from Mt Pinatubo eruption in 1991
4.1 Sulfur dioxide emission and stratospheric aerosol
4.2 Cooling of the Earth by the Mt Pinatubo eruption
4.3 Lowering sea level from Mt Pinatubo in the altimeter record
4.4 Particulate matter in the contemporary atmosphere
References
CH005.pdf
Chapter 5 Solar engineering to cool the Earth
5.1 Size and type of artificial aerosol: a back-of-the-envelope estimate
5.2 Expected lifetime, cooling, and other aspects
5.3 A more general look at light scattering particles
5.4 Model predictions of climate alterations
5.5 Methods of aerosol insertion
5.6 Cost estimates are low
References
CH006.pdf
Chapter 6 Can sea level be lowered by cooling to save Miami?
6.1 Thermal expansion of sea water
6.2 Sea level predictions based on the volcanic eruptions
6.3 Sea level predictions using geoengineering and climate models
6.4 Saving Miami and Shanghai and Venice by lowering the sea
References
CH007.pdf
7 Some useful constants
