Impulse Jan 0007_8_9_tonemappedA

How High Could the Tide Go?

100_1501 Today's picture was suggested by an article in the Environment section of the NY Times. Scientists are studying prehistoric shorelines to garner clues as to how high sea levels might rise if predicted global temperature rises occur. According to scientists, even the modest sea rise we have had in the past century greatly contributed to the flooding from Hurricane Sandy. Today's pleasant image shows our VT home with a setting sun and in an attractive, natural environment. The picture also indicates the several feet of elevation we have above the river with our front door a good 10 feet above the river bed. The second photo shows the water level just below our front door during tropical storm Irene in August 2011. As if to underline how quickly the weather can change, just 10 minutes before this picture was taken a snow squall had reduced visibility almost completely. The lagging edge of the squall can be seen in the upper left of the photo. And another squall passed through 30 minutes later. I normally let viewers/readers arrive at their own thoughts about my images and words. But I readily share my opinion on this subject. The data is clear - the planet is warming, carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere and the oceans , and the sea level is rising. The data also strongly implicates these changes to be anthropogenic. Tamron 10-24mm@11mm, f22, 3 shot HDR, 1/40 sec +/- 1 ev, handheld. Processed in Photomatix and Color Efex Pro 4.