Liberty's Blog

Sinking Faster Than We Thought.

It looks like we not only have to worry about erosion, and rising water from global warming, but Galveston is actually sinking into the Gulf, and not at such a slow pace.

Stretching 1,000 feet into the Gulf and surrounded by sunny beaches, Pleasure Pier is aptly named. But the name belies a dark secret: Since the 1957 installation of a tidal gauge, the water has risen more than a foot. Over a full century, that translates into 2 feet, 5 inches.

A similar gauge at Pier 21 in Galveston's harbor has measured a 2-foot, 2-inch rise in the water level in the past 100 years.

Anecdotally, residents also know something is wrong. One blustery day last month, Lorraine Brown stood at the western end of the seawall at low tide, looked down at the seawall's base and saw swirling water falling upon rocks.

"I remember when you could drive Galveston Island, from end to end, on the natural beach," said Brown, who lives in Sea Isle, a community a few miles from the island's western tip. "I don't think there will ever be any hope of doing that again."

If not for major sand-renourishment projects, the situation might be similar to Pleasure Pier, and the eastern, more touristy end of Galveston Island.

The tidal-gauge measurements tell scientists how much elevation the island has lost, not why. How much has been caused by natural or man-made subsidence, the sinking of the Earth's surface? How much by compaction of sediments thousands of feet below ground? How much by rising seas?

As yet, scientists can only debate these questions.

Thats 2 feet a century. 2 feet is a lot of sinking when when of the people live here at a grade of 10 ft or less.

posted by Liberty @ 6:55 PM