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Florida Topography


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With everyone now aware of the devastating power of the sea, I thought I'd take a little time to put together a few pictures I've found to remind people how flat and vulnerable Florida is to rising waters.

First, a little overview of Florida's topography:

01.jpg

The darkest of the blue at the mouth of the Bay is the deepest point in this map at 94 feet, while the darkest of the red in Clearwater is the highest point at 105 feet:

usgstopomap.jpg

Storm surge model estimates in southwest Florida:

surge.gif

Perhaps the most dramatic image, this one shows the landscape of Florida if the ocean should rise 5 meters (16 feet) or 10 meters (33 feet):

PIA06666.jpg

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The ice caps won't melt in 2040.  For every scientist that claims we are heating up, there are two that can show we are cooling down. 

Check a farmers alamanac for weather temps and you'll note we are cooler now than in the early 1900's.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank you, voice of reason.

Now that pic is important because it tells you which counties are most vulnerable to a hurricane storm surge. Thankfully, though, unlike New Orleans no areas would really retain the water, they'd just have the inflow/outflow damage much like the tsunami.

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Now that pic is important because it tells you which counties are most vulnerable to a hurricane storm surge. Thankfully, though, unlike New Orleans no areas would really retain the water, they'd just have the inflow/outflow damage much like the tsunami.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Right. When I made this post, the thought of ice caps melting never even crossed my mind, nor did I intend to scare anybody into believing that New Orleans-type flooding could occur in Florida. I did, however, want these maps to show how vulnerable the state is to rising waters of any kind, whether it be storm surge, tsunami, torrential rains, ice cap melting, etc.

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Well, over a million years ago, ALL of Florida was under water, so those images really don't surprise me. But, did everyone know that the peninsula of Florida rests atop two twin extinct volcanoes??? Now THAT is creepy.

As for polar ice caps...I just saw a report on CNN.com that some scientists are NOW saying the Ozone layer is no longer shrinking. Thus, no one really knows what's going to happen. However, IF the ice caps completely melted, I seriously doubt a "WaterWorld" type event would happen.

As for the previous post about Orlando and Disney being left...how tacky! We'd be losing A LOT more, IMO. Miami, Ft. Laud, WPB, & northward would be wiped out and over half of Tampa/St. Pete would be lost. Huge price to pay for keeping the House of Mouse.

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^Volcanos?  Whoa, where'd you learn that?  Sounds pretty cool!

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I read that in "Encarta Encyclopedia" a long time ago when I was in high school doing a report. Honestly, I'm not too sure of the validity of that statement, but if it was in an encyclopedia, then it HAS to be right, doesn't it? <_<

I thought I would share a picture of what Florida MIGHT look like if all the ice caps melted. Kinda grim...

fig16.gif

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NOW THAT IS LOOKING AT A GLASS HALF FULL!!!!! though seriously, rising water is not scary. I think everyone should imagine life without our gas lifestyle. Lets think back about spikes in gas prices, nad how that ultimatly effected the economy. This is bad. Three weeks with these prices, and alot will change. I will be broke, and jobless, failing my classes, and probably pretty hungry. lol.

P.S. Tallahassee... everyone is welcome, but each city must bring some buildings...:)

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Well, over a million years ago, ALL of Florida was under water, so those images really don't surprise me. But, did everyone know that the peninsula of Florida rests atop two twin extinct volcanoes??? Now THAT is creepy.

As for polar ice caps...I just saw a report on CNN.com that some scientists are NOW saying the Ozone layer is no longer shrinking. Thus, no one really knows what's going to happen. However, IF the ice caps completely melted, I seriously doubt a "WaterWorld" type event would happen.

As for the previous post about Orlando and Disney being left...how tacky! We'd be losing A LOT more, IMO. Miami, Ft. Laud, WPB, & northward would be wiped out and over half of Tampa/St. Pete would be lost. Huge price to pay for keeping the House of Mouse.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The ozone layer has nothing to do with global warming, it is the layer of the stratosphere that filters out UV light and the holes have largely closed. This is because the compounds causing ozone depletion, CFCs, were banned.

Now, greenhouse gases like CO2 are in theory supposed to cause global warming, though the theory is quite logical that temperature changes are so small that we don't really know this is occurring. Nonetheless, we can't just stop using combustion engines the way we stopped using CFCs so if we are causing this to occur, this will be a much bigger problem.

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As for the previous post about Orlando and Disney being left...how tacky! We'd be losing A LOT more, IMO. Miami, Ft. Laud, WPB, & northward would be wiped out and over half of Tampa/St. Pete would be lost. Huge price to pay for keeping the House of Mouse.

What are you talking about? No one would be "paying a price". We wouldn't be voting on what stayed and what went. Orlando would simply be what survives. Just a fact.

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The ice caps won't melt in 2040.  For every scientist that claims we are heating up, there are two that can show we are cooling down. 

Check a farmers alamanac for weather temps and you'll note we are cooler now than in the early 1900's.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They can and have measured the decline of the polar ice cap. The new projections are based on these measurements. Alaskan native americans, who have lived there for thousands of years, have stated that many of their historic fishing and hunting locations are now only accessable by boat because the ice has melted away. This is something not remembered at all in tribal history. We can choose to stick our heads in the ground "oh there is no such thing as global warming", but that doesn't make the evidence go away.

As a side note, the permafrost line in Alaska is also moving North. While this doesn't sound like a big deal, it also causes major problems because people inhabiting this area are now faced with huge mud fields and sinking buildings where they never have had to deal with it before.

The effects of global warming will first be noticed in places of extreme climate as it is now in Alaska. It won't be long before places such as Florida, which is basically a big coral reef, will notice it too.

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What are you talking about? No one would be "paying a price". We wouldn't be voting on what stayed and what went. Orlando would simply be what survives. Just a fact.

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I was trying to point out the severity of what would be "lost" vs. what would be "saved". I made no mention of "voting".

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They can and have measured the decline of the polar ice cap.  The new projections are based on these measurements.  Alaskan native americans, who have lived there for thousands of years, have stated that many of their historic fishing and hunting locations are now only accessable by boat because the ice has melted away.  This is something not remembered at all in tribal history.  We can choose to stick our heads in the ground "oh there is no such thing as global warming", but that doesn't make the evidence go away. 

As a side note, the permafrost line in Alaska is also moving North.  While this doesn't sound like a big deal, it also causes major problems because people inhabiting this area are now faced with huge mud fields and sinking buildings where they never have had to deal with it before.

The effects of global warming will first be noticed in places of extreme climate as it is now in Alaska.  It won't be long before places such as Florida, which is basically a big coral reef, will notice it too.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We are still coming out of an ice age. The permafrost line has been receeding for thousands of years now.

I once posted elsewhere that the record high temps recorded for all continents occured around 100 years ago or near to it while the record cold temp has happened whithin the past 2-3 decades for all contininets. I'll post that here once I find it again.

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