Big Island, The Last Hawaiian Outpost When Global Warming Torches The Planet?

[TomK]

Here we go again.
The island (all of them actually) is moving NW and sinking. They will all continue to do so, for millions of more years just like they have already.

I'm not sure what your point is. In 50 years the Big Island will have moved roughly five or six yards to the NW. Is this something that will mitigate climate change? If climate change continues at the current rate, neither that small distance nor the island sinking slowly will make any difference, so I would really like you to explain this.

Unless, of course, MyManao explains how a sinking island and rising sea levels cancel out.

[MyManao]

Unless, of course, MyManao explains how a sinking island and rising sea levels cancel out.

Yeah, those dyslexic moments are great. I'm surprised you've been so slow at finding ways to make fun of that one. Gee, Tom, you've lost your edge. In the good ol' days you would have had me hanged, drawn and quartered, and passed on to Paul for a second go round, long before now for that one. 

Growing old's a bitch, eh?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I wonder what makes Hawaii vulnerable? 

A couple of guesses:

* The harbors will change shape and move inland as the sea rises.  Initially this could be mitigated with berms and sea walls, until a major change is required.  That's a lot of infrastructure if you look at what's located at the harbors
* The airports are mostly near sea level so may require relocation.
* Will tourists want to travel a long distance to a hot hot hot beach, when they could go to a warm and comfortable beach in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, even the Great Lakes?  That could cut into Hawaii's main, let's say only source of revenue.  

Most of this will take decades to occur, but if the sea levels and temperature changes become so obvious that both citizens who respond to this thread without reading it and government officials have no choice but to face reality, they'll realize this could cost big bucks.  If the Hawaii government plans ahead for a change and starts salting away funds for mega-relocation-projects, all of which would occur within a short period of time, they will start taxing the bejesus out of us well before the projects need to take place.  Then, some of us will say enough, and desert the islands for tax-havens on the mainland with no libraries*, ambulance service**, fire departments***, or more than one cop****.  Yes, those places exist, because middle ground is as hard to find as the elusive Dryland in Waterworld.

*books are unnecessary for people who can't read a paragraph or two on a social media thread
** if you can't buy a 4 wheel dive SUV for yourself, too bad
*** If you can't put a fire extinguisher in every room, too bad
**** you only need the one cop after you've already solved your problem with the bear or suspected intruder with your one man well regulated, well armed militia

[kalakoa]

If the Hawaii government plans ahead for a change

History suggests this will not happen.

[Obie]

Eastern Ohio right now is having highs about 75 and lows about 60. My cottage is on a man made lake in a deep valley that was created in the last ice age about 50,000 years ago. Maybe we haven't warmed up from that event yet. Puna content, I'm a Hawaii resident.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

How could an iceberg in Antarctic the size of Florida affect Puna?  If it causes the ocean off the coast of East Hawaii to rise by 10 feet.  Some scientists think it could happen in years, not decades.  If Hawaii's harbors rose 10 feet in a short period of time, we would have no gasoline, fuel oil, or most of the food we import.  Honolulu airport is 13 feet above sea level, Hilo airport is 39' above sea level.

This makes the ice shelves on Thwaites and Pine Island more sensitive to extreme climate change in the ocean, atmosphere and sea ice. If Thwaites and Pine Island were to destabilize, several of the neighboring areas would also fall apart, causing a widespread collapse, the scientists said. Thwaites alone could cause sea levels to rise about 10 feet, the scientists said.

In December, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder predicted that Thwaites will last only a few more years before it collapses.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/ant...d=89415405

[TomK]

Unless, of course, MyManao explains how a sinking island and rising sea levels cancel out.

Yeah, those dyslexic moments are great. I'm surprised you've been so slow at finding ways to make fun of that one. Gee, Tom, you've lost your edge. In the good ol' days you would have had me hanged, drawn and quartered, and passed on to Paul for a second go round, long before now for that one. 

Growing old's a bitch, eh?

I didn't post anything at the time because others did (and I see you didn't use a dyslexic excuse at the time, you posted no response at all). The point is that leilanidude posted something in this thread that seems entirely irrelevant and you post something on the same subject which is wrong. I think it's only fair to point that out as it goes toward credibility.

[Durian Fiend]

How could an iceberg in Antarctic the size of Florida affect Puna?  If it causes the ocean off the coast of East Hawaii to rise by 10 feet.  Some scientists think it could happen in years, not decades.  If Hawaii's harbors rose 10 feet in a short period of time..

No.
 
https://cires.colorado.edu/news/threat-t...st-glacier

[b]STATEMENT (added 1/31/2022):[/b]

Due to some inaccuracies in media coverage following our press release, the team would like to clarify the timeline of estimated impacts from the potential collapse of Thwaites Glacier. The “chain reaction,” beginning with the potential collapse of Thwaites’ Eastern Ice Shelf would set in motion a long-term process which would eventually result in global sea level rise. While the initial steps of ice shelf collapse, glacier speed-up, and increased ice-cliff failure might happen within a couple of decades, the “2 to 10 feet” of sea level rise will require centuries to unfold—and impacts can still be mitigated depending on how humans respond in coming decades..

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

STATEMENT (added 1/31/2022

Thanks Durian Fiend,
I would say “some inaccuracies” is an understatement.  This is one reason scientists get a bad rep, journalists who never took earth science classes. I read 5-7 articles about this phenomenon, and every one described the glacier as hanging on by its fingernails, which I found odd.  

[Carey]

In 2007, I took a course with Dr Fred MacKenzie at UHH on climate change..
I that time, though I knew the NWHI area would be ravaged by sea level rise, I had to learn of the atmospheric & oceanic responses to climate change that could drastically effect the Main Hawaiian Islands.
By utilizing the then fairly new IPCC modeling information, we were able to see how atmospheric responses may change the atmospheric and oceanographic circulation cycles that have dominated the earth for millennia.
One of the main concerns by the IPCC was the moving & weakening of the Walker Circulation Cell, ocean acidification & a very slight potential of weakening of Global Deep Ocean Conveyor Belt....
The scary thing is that in the last 15 years humans population beat out all targets for CO2 rise, & we are already seeing in real time, what was predicted in that class to be effect that may take hundreds of years to happen.... esp the effects that are being seen in the GDOCB....
ANYHOO... all of this is covered in the many IPCC reports & the NRC Climate Change in the US & many others..