Sea level claims disputed

An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report claiming New Zealand will experience sea levels rises of one metre during the next century flies in the face of available scientific evidence, says a Waikato University scientist.

Dr Willem De Lange's own research suggests sea levels may actually be about to decrease, and any claims that sea levels will rise by one metre is 'scientifically invalid”.

A Waikato University scientist is disputing IPCC claims New Zealand will experience sea levels rises of one metre during the next century.

Willem is senior lecturer in the university's department of Earth and Ocean Sciences with expertise in tsunami and storm surge prediction and mitigation; wave-induced sediment transport; dispersal studies; climate change; oceanography.

While sea levels have been rising around New Zealand for the last 120 years, the rate is slowing – and sea levels are still one to two metres lower than they were coming out of the little ice age in the 14th century, says Willem

'The problem is some of the work we have done shows that sea level rises in New Zealand seem to go in a step-like pattern.

'So it jumps up and stays fairly steady, and then after a while it jumps up again. The last time it jumped up was about 1998, and since that time it hasn't really done much at all.”

The IPCC projections cover a huge range of numbers, with a tendency for media in particular to pick either at the top end or above the top end, says Willem.

'So in their latest assessment they identified two main methods used to project what the sea level will be in one hundred years' time. My own research indicates we can't do any meaningful predictions beyond about 30 years.

'So these projects are based on ‘what if' scenarios, which may or may not happen. There is no probability associated with just how likely these numbers are.”

The IPCC consider IPCC Working Group 2 report, authored in part by Niwa scientists, is suggesting sea level – by the end of the century – will have risen by roughly twice what it rose by in the last century.

That prediction is 14-17 centimetres for New Zealand, says Willem.

'So if you double that you get 30-40cm. The report that's being released is claiming sea level rises of at least one metre. The problem is even with the doubling, the rate of sea level rise has been slowing progressively for New Zealand probably since the 1930s.

'When I first did this work in 1984 the rate that we had for New Zealand was 2.5 millimetres per year, and right now we are somewhere in the order of 1.7 millimetres.”

Willem published a prediction of the step in sea level that happened at the beginning of this century and predicts the next step is due in 2030 – plus or minus five years.

'I'm still predicting there will be a step, but I'm increasingly uncertain as to whether it will go up or down,” says Willem. 'There's an increasing possibility that the step in sea levels will be downwards – which is not considered at all by the IPCC.

'The problem they are having with research that is increasingly coming out, is the rate in sea level rise in particular bares no correlation with temperature or green house gas emissions.

'The gas emissions have been accelerating rapidly over the last 30 years. The temperatures now are not much different to what they were when I was at high school.

'And so there hasn't been much in the way of a temperature rise for between 15 and 20 years, depending on what statistics you look at. This century there has been no effective temperature change and the sea level has been rising but at a slower rate.

In fact Willem says some of the more recent data indicates a global drop. 'So taking the observations and pushing them forward is very difficult, but in my opinion I consider IPCC Working Group 2 is working with two numbers that are ridiculously high and they are overstating the problem.”

Work Willem's been doing on the Kapiti Coast and more recently on the Coromandel shows the future of coastal communities depends on their sediment budget; how much sand is on the beach.

'Most of our coastline has a positive sediment budget at present. So that means regardless of sea level rise those beaches are likely to be stable, or retreat. So I think it is unreasonable to go round telling people that our coastal communities are under dire threat.”

The IPCC predictions are based on projections which have failed to match observations, says Willem.

'And that's the problem they have. The bizarre thing is the further their projections track from the observations; the more certain they are humans are causing it to be worse than it should be.

'We identified back in the 1990s there was about a 60-year cycle in ocean behaviour and atmospheric behaviour, and that predicted at the time there would be 25-30 years of global warning followed by 25-30 years of global plateauing. Increasingly it is looking as though we are looking at 25-30 years of cooling.

'We are now 15 years into that 30-year period and data is suggesting that it's not warming – in line with predictions made by a number of people back in the 1990s.”

Willem raised those issues with the IPCC and now gets labelled a ‘denier'.

He's reassuring Omokoroa residents on Wednesday this week about the lack of ongoing issues regarding rising sea levels, or Port of Tauranga operations uncovered in the university's ongoing studies of Tauranga Harbour.

Willem is first speaker at the community meeting, to be held at the Omokoroa Settlers' Hall at 7pm.

'We've been invited to talk students working in the region on coastal erosion. The results so far show there is no relation to port issues and to climate change issues.”

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8 comments

Rastus

Posted on 06-04-2014 13:11 | By rastus

How very refreshing to read some 'TRUTH' from this scientist - not a whole lot of gobledygook cooked up by those others (IPCC and their gravy train hangers on) follow the money trail - few of whom will ever be around at the time of their ludicrous predictions, and who are pouring billions into computer models that so far have proven to be less accurate at predicting reality, than hanging up a piece of seaweed- these idiots can't even accurately predict what is going to happen next week let alone making accurate predictions decades into the future. Their computer generated climate models fall for the age old problem - crap in and double crap out.


Thumbs up.

Posted on 06-04-2014 14:18 | By Gammelvindnz

At last someone who is scientifically showing what most of us who have been around a while have been saying.


Interesting

Posted on 06-04-2014 20:23 | By Sealegs

When you have been rock fishing in a certain place for over twenty years, and can't spot any noticeable difference in water levels in that time, it does make you sceptical of the "facts" that are continually spewed out warning us of rising sea levels etc etc.


Hip hip Horray!

Posted on 07-04-2014 00:41 | By Kiwigal

Thank you Dr Willem, thank you! Finally someone who is talking sense. Oh, this article was like music to my ears.


Look Up

Posted on 07-04-2014 08:19 | By Disappointed

All these scientists are looking at it from the wrong angle. The sea levels are not rising - it is the sky that is falling!


on

Posted on 07-04-2014 08:33 | By Capt_Kaveman

research id done a few years ago had an increase of 1-2mm / yr so in 10years looking at 10-20mm which is not much to worry but this 1-2m idea is a bit stretched and i do not believe if all the ice caps melted 20m+ there is no way


Sea level rise

Posted on 07-04-2014 13:48 | By Bob Bingham

The uncertainty about sea level rise is about how fast Greenland and West Antarctica melt and the scientists who go there are extremely concerned. So far the IPCC has underestimated changes because they are very cautious and conservative. This specialist NZ website covers the likely changes and why, http://www.climateoutcome.kiwi.nz/


Back in the real world

Posted on 07-04-2014 17:18 | By YOGI BEAR

The climate models and predictions show variation from year to year, that we can all accept. Even the UN of late ahs admitted that the actual results on climate change have been "VERY" conservative and seriously understated the effects of CO2 and so on. There are some things in life that are certain ... TAX, DEATH and climate change ... Bottom line here it is necessary for the public to realize the effects of climate change and history tells us the answer ion that. The only other answer needed is how to reduce the effects that are coming.


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