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A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 4 May 2017

California says oceans could rise higher than thought

In this Oct. 28, 2015, file photo, a bulldozer piles sand into a high berm to protect homes along Sunset Beach in Huntington Beach, Calif.
Associated Press
ELLEN KNICKMEYER in the nation’s most popu- off California’s 1,100 miles tion on whether to elevate melting of Antarctic ice,
Associated Press lous state plan for climate (1,770 kilometers) of coast- or abandon buildings near which could raise ocean
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) change as rising water line even more than for the the coast and bays. levels off California a dev-
— New climate-change seeps toward low-lying air- world as a whole. In the best-case scenario, astating 10 feet by the end
findings mean the Pacific ports, highways and com- “Emerging science is show- waters in the vulnerable San of this century, the state
Ocean off California may munities, especially in the ing us a lot more than even Francisco Bay, for example, says. That’s at least 30 times
rise higher, and storms and San Francisco Bay Area. five years ago,” council likely would rise between 1 faster than the rate over
high tides hit harder, than Discoveries that ice sheets deputy director Jenn Eck- foot and 2.4 feet (one-third the last 100 years.
previously thought, officials are melting increasingly erle said Thursday. to three-fourths of a meter) Scientists say rising water
said. fast in Antarctica, which Gov. Jerry Brown has man- by the end of this century, from climate change al-
The state’s Ocean Protec- holds nearly 90 percent dated that state agencies the ocean council said. ready is playing a role in
tion Council on Wednes- of the world’s ice, largely take climate change into However, that’s only if the extreme winters such as
day revised upward its spurred the change. account in planning and world cracks down on cli- this past one in California,
predictions for how much As fossil-fuel emissions warm budgeting. The council’s mate-changing fossil-fuel contributing to flooding of
water off California will rise the Earth’s atmosphere, projections will guide ev- emissions far more than it some highways and help-
as the climate warms. The melting Antarctic ice is ex- erything from local deci- is now. The worst-case sce- ing crumble cliffs beneath
forecast helps agencies pected to raise the water sions on zoning to state ac- nario entails an even faster some oceanfront homes.q