Dec 31, 2010

About those global sea level predictions: Never mind

The American Thinker takes a closer look at predictions vs reality:

Gore, Schwarzenegger, and the IPCC made their mark through their dramatic predictions of catastrophic sea level rise due to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causing global warming. Gore once predicted that sea levels would rise by twenty feet over the century. Last year, Schwarzenegger unveiled a map showing world sea levels rising by 1.5 meters over the next century. In 2001, the IPCC predicted that sea level would rise by three feet over the next century. Their past predictions and the accurate satellite measurements are shown in the chart below:

sea-level-rise

The actual sea level rise over the last eighteen years is 1.85 inches, which works out to 10.4 inches per century. This is similar to the 20th century's rise of 8 inches, but much less than the average rise of 4 feet per century for the last 10,000 years as glaciers left by the last ice age continue to melt.

Think of the right hand side of the graph as a cliff in tony Montecito, California. Imagine a lovely estate sitting at the top of that cliff. It belongs to Al Gore.

According to Gore's predictions, sea levels would suddenly and apocalyptically rise (see the black line) until his hillside estate became ocean front property. Unfortunately for Al, he can still peer over the edge of the abyss and barely see the ocean waaaaaay down there at the bottom of the cliff (see the red line). Al Gore, real estate genius.

Source: American Thinker