The Guardian today, has:
There is no great master plan’: anxiety as UK homes, roads and railways sink into the sea – Increasing coastal erosion has hit communities’ livelihoods and put lifestyles under threat
There is no mention of any Scottish location.
Here’s why:
In October 2009, The Telegraph reported, the above and:
England is sinking while Scotland rises above sea levels, according to new study
England is sinking into the sea while Scotland is rising at such a rate it may counteract the effects of sea level rise due to climate change, according to a new geological map.
The University of Durham looked at levels of land uplift and subsidence in the British Isles since the Ice Age. As the ice retreated 20,000 years ago the release of the enormous weight meant the north slowly tilted up while the south sank down. Scotland is still experiencing this “springboard” effect while southern Ireland, Wales and England continues to sink.
The new study shows that land levels could rise by up to 10cm in some areas of Scotland over the next century, offsetting the effects of sea level rise caused by global warming.
We should not gloat but imagine the media operating in Scotland if the trend was the other way and the SNP could be shown to have done nothing about it? They’d have Jackie Baillie calling for house building on Dumbarton Rock!
Well, actually, in January 2020, The Herald did have a go:
SCOTLAND is not prepared for the risks of coastal erosion which is likely to cause far more than the £400m worth of damage to communities first predicted, experts have warned. A Dynamic Coast project looking into the effects on the nation from climate change predicted three years ago that over a fifth of Scotland‘s coastline – over 2000 miles – was at risk of erosion through sea level rises, with threats from flooding to infrastructure, including roads and railways worth £400m by 2050.
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Anent the Herald’s gloomy story. The information they presented is a selective culling from a study set up by the Scottish Government to gather information about coastal erosion in Scotland. (Every country which has a littoral, experiences coastal erosion to some extent.) The aim is to use this rigorous dynamic database to monitor erosion and to propose actions to mitigate the effects where it is felt necessary. It is proactive and will provide data on the effects of climate change on sea levels.
But, seeking a story to induce fear and apprehension in the lieges, the Herald has been selective in its use of information and concocted a ‘were all doomed’ story.
When coastline is being eroded the material being taken off goes somewhere – into the sea in the first instance. But sea currents and tides shift this material along coasts and in many cases it is deposited on or near the shore, which, over time, develops into more permanent land. Erosion is only one side of a wider story.
This process has been going on since the Earth and its oceans formed. I learned about this first when I was taking O Grade Geography in 1963 and 1964. I passed Higher Grade Geography with a band A in 1965, when I learned about tectonic plates and vulcanicity, which can lead to land levels rising in places and the creation of new land, such as the island of Surtsey in Iceland.
Climate change due to human activity IS a serious issue and action is required to mitigate and reverse it. However, the bulk of the media in the UK are climate change sceptics and supporters of the Trumpian ‘drill, baby, drill’ attitude to the continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels.
The BBC dropped its requirement that discussions of climate should include both people with evidence of climate change and climate change deniers to provide ‘balance’, because it had decided that the evidence of global warming and its effects was firmly based. However, for several years after, BBC ‘Scotland’ continued to give climate change deniers platforms on phone-in programmes or in interviews.
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While coastal sea rises can be attributed to global warming, There is another effect taking place. It is known as Isostatic Rebound and is the crust resetting after the ice age. Imagine one of those things flower arrangers use to stick flowers stems in. If you press your thumb on it (as I loved to do as a child) there is a depression that slowly smooths itself out again. As Gazzillions of tonnes of Ice lay over these Islands from North to south it pressed the land into the crust. The south-east of England was, for a long time during that period, relatively ice free.
What is happening now is that the rebound is raising the north west of Scotland while the southeast sinks. Many will remember, years ago, news clips of houses falling into the sea in England. Over thirty years ago Westminster began to surrender coastal areas to the sea and insurance became impossible for some in certain areas.
It has been happening for over ten thousand years; it’s why we can see raised beaches in many parts of Scotland. It’s also why we get occasional mini earthquakes in Scotland. Today, warming seas are speeding up the process.
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