Also from the article:
Numbers in sea-level debate not so simple:
The debate in the legislature over the expected sea-level rise along the North Carolina coast over the next century has been presented as a choice between two numbers: 8 and…
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The science panel’s report recommended using one number for the whole coast as a starting point, concluding that “local differences are likely to be overwhelmed by global effects.” It chose the 17-inch figure from the Duck gauge. From the panel’s perspective, while the gauge had the highest rate of rise of the eight gauges along the coast, it was also the best source of data, because it was the least influenced by human activity such as widening of shipping channels.Sea-level rise has three contributing factors:
• The land itself can sink, though this is somewhat random and hard to predict.
• Glaciers melt due to rising temperatures, increasing the amount of ocean water.
• Ocean water expands as it is heated, just like the wedding ring that’s a bit too tight.
By choosing tide charts from Duck the three factors listed above were ignored.
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