British coast faces 2ft rise in sea levels

BRITAIN?S coasts and oceans are being changed for ever by rising sea levels, bigger waves and stronger storms, a government report will warn this week.

The study, the most thorough yet carried out into the impact of climate change on the country?s marine environment, warns that sea levels could rise by as much as 2ft-3ft by 2080 and that the height of the biggest waves hitting our shores is already rising.

Such factors, combined with the likelihood of more and bigger storms, will, says the study, dramatically alter Britain?s shores, affecting the wildlife and people that live around them.

?This is a shocking report,? said Ben Bradshaw, the junior environment minister who oversees marine issues. ?Climate change is impacting on our oceans far faster and more strongly than was ever expected.?

The study, Marine Climate Change Impacts, to be published this week by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, draws together the latest research from some of Britain?s leading marine and climate research centres.

The research comes as this autumn is poised to be the warmest since 1731, with average temperatures above 11.8C (53F).

The most obvious impact will be from rising sea levels. A report from the Hadley Centre, the Met Office?s climate research facility, warns that sea levels could rise by up to 2ft 6in around southern England by 2080.

Even Scotland, where rising sea levels are mitigated by the fact that the country is rising slightly from the earth?s crust, will experience an increase of up to 2ft, says the report.

Climate change causes sea levels to rise partly through melting ice sheets but also because, as water gets warmer, it expands slightly. A 1C temperature rise could raise global sea levels by many feet.

The report warns that such rises will be accompanied by an increase in the frequency and strength of big storms. As the atmosphere warms, more heat is generated to power weather systems.

?There has already been a greater incidence of severe winds,? says a report from the National Oceanography Centre at Southampton University. ?Wave heights are increasing by about 2% a year around western and northern UK waters.?

For a maritime nation like Britain such changes would create serious problems, especially for the ports, oil rigs and coastal defences on which the nation depends.

The report also highlights the threat to sea life ranging from fish to seabirds and plankton ? the microscopic plants and animals that form the basis of most marine ecosystems.

Cold-water species such as cod are already moving out of the North Sea. Corals, some plankton, shellfish and sea urchins will become less able to produce shells by the middle of this century because of increasing acidity, caused as rising levels of carbon dioxide dissolve in seawater.

Ian, there's still some dispute over whether it's wholly man's fault or a natural cycle that's being accelerated by man's activities.
I for one believe it's the latter. Evidence shows that back in the 13th century sea levels were much higher than they are today.
A couple of years ago Time Team did a dig at the ruins of a church near Kings Lynne and records show that during the 13th and 14th centuries the small hill on which it stands was an offshore island indicating that the sea level at that time was some 20 feet above present levels.
I fear that in spite of what actions we take it will just be delaying the inevitable.

"Evidence shows that back in the 13th century sea levels were much higher than they are today."

I didn't know that Frank, I'll keep an eye out for the Time Team programme ;-)

woooooohooooooooooo!!!
surfs up!

Bawtry, which is not far from where I live, used to be a 12th century port.

There is no doubt that sea levels were higher in those days, no matter what Cornelius Vermuyden did to drain these areas in the 17th century.

Captain , you can be such a tart at time`s !

That's why I bought a house on a hill, .....
..... when the shore-line floods I'll have excellent sea views, that'll add bundles to the equity.

I don't know about King's Lynn but I do know about sea level in Poole Harbour; the evidence here is that sea levels were 2 metres lower than today in late iron age. There seems to have been a gradual rise in the last 2000 years due to the British Isles tilting as the SE drops and the NW rises, this being a correction from the last ice age when nothern parts were depressed by the weight of the ice. This also ties in with the salmon weir (Saxon) at Wareham which would have worked better when sea levels were about a metre higher, and also the levels of the hardcore within Wareham Quay which show a gradual need over 2000 years to keep raising the level (the Roman layer is all oyster shells and 6ft lower than the current level). If the sea level had generally been 20 feet higher in the 13th century (it wasn't!) then places like Wareham would have been totally inundated as none of it is that much above sea level. In the Fens it was the construction of the sea walls and flood banks, and drainage that allowed Ely (Isle of eels) to become in the middle of dry land not water/marsh/swamp - I saw the Time Team programme too.

it's amazing how people can twist the conclusions round in their head, from that time team.
They even said the water level drop was due to the drainage being dug.

I did stories on it at the time, it's a place called Bawsey ruin - like a ruined church on a small mound you see from the bypass to your right after the Queen Elizabeth Hospital roundabout.

I don't think they said the levels went down because of drainage, this was centuries before the Fens were drained/reclaimed.

Lower sea levels in Iron Age times are borne out by some of the stuff they find on the beaches up here, most notably Seahenge and some of the other relics.

They reckon the bog oaks you find in the Fens all fell the same way showing there was a massive flood/wave powerful enough to break oak trees at some point in ancient times.

There is evidence Chris that a tsunami may have been responsible. It occured about 8000 years ago.

I've got a book somewhere with it in. In fact I loaned it to Colin Goodge and he gave it back to me today, so I'll look it out when I get five mins.

With respect Ian this information is old hat. The cutting edge Environmental Scientists were predicting this in the late 80s early 90s. They were ridiculed by the same people who are now saying it will happen. E.g. MPs, Govt officials, etc.

Those selfsame hypocrites dismissed them as woolly-hatted, beardy weirdies, tree hugging, alarmist doom merchants.

How rye it is to have a smile on ones face!

To those who doubt that Global Warming is man made, whilst it?s true through out earth?s history there have been fluctuations in sea levels, as the ice capes have waxed and waned due increased global temperatures. Never in the 500,000 year records that they have analysed, have they seen such an accelerated rate as they?ve found in the last 200 years. All others have take 1000s of years to happen.

Coincidently, the accelerated rate they are finding now just happens to tie in with the birth of the industrial revolution and the mass burning of fossil fuels.

Bawtry was a port until 1777 when traffic bound for the Trent and Humber was re-routed onto the newly opened Chesterfield Canal

Whilst not denying that the activities of man are contributing to global warming to say that it is the only contributing factor is inaccurate.
Astronomers and many scientists now agree that the Earth's climate is constantly changing for a number of reasons. The sun does not emit stable heat and radiation but regularly heats up and causes an increase in Earths average temperature. Also Earth's orbit around the sun changes. Sometimes moving a little closer, sometimes a little further away.
Other factors including shifting of the Earths axis and the magnetic field all playing a role in a constantly changing climate.
As far as sea levels along the North Norfolk coast 800 years ago are concerned these were not lowered by land drainage or reclaimation because at that time and for quite a few hundred years later this would not have been necessary. The population of this area at that time would not have been no more than a few tens of thousands and with enough rich and fertile land already available for everyone why would they want to undertake such a huge operation and it would have been a huge undertaking because some of these one time submerged areas are now as much 25 to 30 feet above sea level.
I've checked local records and although some reclaimation did take place in more recent times it in no way answers the question as to why vast areas of this coastline which only 800 years ago were under the sea are now dry land.
Perhaps somebody with more knowledge of this subject can give the answer because for the life of me I can't.

When we lived in Lincolnshire I always foudn it fascinating to go to Crowland. There they have a bridge with three approaches which spanned two rivers joining. The bridge is now in the middle of the street, well away from any river (the Welland). The entire area was said to be salt marsh at one time.

Where we lived, in Thurlby near Bourne, it was at the bottom of the hills and probably at one time would have bee a coastal resort with promenades, a pier and a Butlins even. Never tried digging for it though.

What about thousands of years ago when the North sea was just another bit of land and the Thames was a tributary to the Rhine?

I studied Climate change as a degree.

While you will find that most scientists accept there is a likelihood we are contributing to the increase, there is still no irrefutable proof that is accepted by the whole scientific community. Equally, we have been warming up since the end of the last Ice Age....when I can assure everyone that stone age man was not running around in gas guzzling 4x4's!

Also I disagree with Phil. There has been an increase in rate over the last few hundred years, but you will find that sudden fluctuations in the previous 100-200,000 years between ice age and temperate were much more sudden. In fact since our last ice age our climate around Northern Europe has been at its most stable for some time.

It has been proven that all previous warming events were characterised by a sudden increase in rate towards the END of that event.

A good friend of mine is a world expert in glaciology and has been closely involved in studying the Greenland ice sheet and its impact on the North Atlantic Drift and he maintains that what we do will have little impact now or in the future.......or at least not as much impact as mother nature will!!

This whole Global Warming debate by our politicians, in my view, is a complete herring. We should be curbing our output of obnoxious shite for other more important short term reasons, like protecting the health of our children and the food chain in general.

Bully you quite entitled to disagree with me, but none of the previous events have shown in the evidence records the elevated levels of Co2 we now have. It is those man made levels that have pushed it past the tipping point of natural fluctuation.

I would agree with your mate that the proposed action we may take is to little to bloody late!

Your last comment I fully endorse!