The Ocean is Rising... Not So Fast

I absolutely love Maine's coastline. If you haven't had a chance to spend time in Maine you have missed out on one of the wonders of the planet. Maine's coast is special for many reasons. From rock formations out west that date back 1.5 billion years to recent glacial events of the last 12-14 thousand years that pushed rocks weighing tons miles rounding them off into easily recognized glacial erratics... Maine's coast is exceptional.

A few years ago I blogged about a University of Maine study conducted for the Maine geological survey that concluded from 1930 to 1992 sea level rise in Portland Maine averaged about 2.2 mm per year.

Almost 30 years after that study it's clear the studies predictions are off... Way off. The study concluded the actual increase was 2.2 mm per year. It also showed a low EPA estimate of 4.2 mm and a high of 29 mm per year.

The same tide gage today doesn't show the expected increase in level or the increase in rate. From 1912 to 2018 the average increase seemingly slowed to 1.88 mm per year.

Since the data goes back to 1900 the only reason for using 1930 and 1912 as your starting point is to find the maximum increase by cherry picking data. The problem with cherry picking data is eventually the data will simply speak for it's self.

The papers author's were: Joseph Kelly, Steven M. Dickson and Daniel Belknap.