The Great (Lakes) Disappearing Act
As global average temperatures increase and sea levels rise, water levels in the Great Lakes have been projected to drop, possibly falling five feet. Notoriously cold winters in Michigan are expected to warm by 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and summers by 13 degrees.
It sounds nice to trade in your cup of hot chocolate for a fudgesicle, but there are many downsides.
Recreational use of the lakes are going to take a huge slam. Populations of cold-water fish (like trout) will be impacted by the warming waters, which means weekend fishing trips and the fishing industry will feel the hurt (as a sport, estimated to be worth $4.5 billion).
If water drops by five feet, approximately 100 feet of shore will be added to the beaches. As a newspaper in Michigan points out, the new water levels will skyrocket real estate along the lakes but make navigation difficult for boats. Shipments through the lakes can be expected to be reduced by 23 percent, which would certainly hand a financial blow to the region and businesses.
Meanwhile, policy continues to delay serious action, supposedly to preserve the American way of life. When will we fully recognize that our way of life will change dramatically if we do not act?
April 18th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
I guess we’re going to have to start calling them the Good Lakes eh?
April 18th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
> Notoriously cold winters in Michigan are expected to warm by 10 degrees
> Fahrenheit, and summers by 13 degrees.
Bullshit. What is your reference for this claim?
April 18th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
The post is based off of the reporting in the article whose link is provided in the text. The second page of that article says:
“A 2006 study by the Union of Concerned Scientists concluded that average air temperatures in Michigan would rise by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter and 13 degrees in the summer. Such changes would shorten winters and lengthen summers in Michigan, said George Kling, a University of Michigan biology professor who worked on the Union of Concerned Scientists report.”
April 18th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Joe (and the article) have cherry-picked the worst case scenarios from UCS this study (lead author, George Kling, a biologist) and excluding possible ranges thereby lying by omission. He has also substuted “will” for “may” and “likely” as used in the study.
When advocates continue to exaggerate, distort, misrepresent climate science and “selecting the best, leave the rest” from biased studies, they lose all credibility.
April 18th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Take a chill pill, dude.
I see you have implied this is a “biased” study. On what basis do you make that claim? I have repeatedly said on this site that if we don’t take action soon, we are headed for the worst-case scenarios because of the amplifying feedbacks like the melting tundra.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Joe Says:
> Take a chill pill, dude.
This is what you tell everyone who disagrees with you. It is no substitute for proper analysis and truthful reporting. Neither of which you seem capable of.
You are the kind of person the skeptics denigrate with the term “alarmist.” And you deserve it.
April 19th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Anyone who isn’t alarmed is not paying attention to the science.
I would add that Ken Caldeira pointed out at the AMS session we both spoke at that, since 2000, carbon dioxide emissions have been rising FASTER than the worst-case scenario envisioned by the IPCC.
June 21st, 2007 at 9:44 pm
The Great Lakes are dissapearing and a complete lake dissapeared in Chile:
http://www.infobae.com/ contenidos/ 322896-100799-0-Desaparece-un-lago-completo-el-sur-Chile
If huge amounts of water dissapear, where is it going to? Who can take a complete lake or huge amounts of fresh water and how?
June 21st, 2007 at 9:50 pm
2nd Reply this time in English:
http://www.cbc.ca/ world/ story/ 2007/ 06/ 21/ glacial-lake.html
It is the same information about a lake that dissapeared completely in Chile all of a sudden. Any more news informations like these out there?
September 30th, 2007 at 8:51 am
I would suggest that all scientists and all others that are really concerned with “global warming” stop driving cars, stop flying planes, stop heating your homes, stop using electrical devices, and stop shopping in stores that are supplied by truck deliveries. Until you are ready to take that kind of stand on life your actions are hypocritical. It is also hypocritical to not also publish that this is a highly debated topic where half of the scientific community theorizes that the earth is going through a normal cycle and the average temperature is merely a result of this.
September 30th, 2007 at 9:52 am
The Great Lakes have been disappearing for thousands of years, ever since they were formed at the end of the last Ice Age. I live about 60 miles south of Lake Erie, in farmland that about 15,000 years ago was in the Lake.
September 30th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Sorry, Ron, not half, maybe 1 in a 1000.
Why should individuals take unilateral actions that will not solve the problem? I and others have been very clear that we need mandatory national controls.
A very lame straw man, I must say. You can do better.
September 30th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
saying that people who don’t stop living their lives in a world laid out before them are hypocritical is probably the most delusional thinking i have ever heard. it is our government (current and past) and huge corporations who made desicions like stopping at the internal combustion engine that put us in this predicament. you can not blame the people for anything more than silence. you want vehicles that don’t run on gasoline, raise your voice.
September 30th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
I heard the lakes are disappearing because the channel between lake Huron and the St. Claire River is widening through erosion, this could be a main cause of the disappearing also.
September 30th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Joe you seem careful here to cite no good evidence but just imply that GW is responsible for lake levels *dropping*. This is odd, because GW is likely to lead to sea level rises of very modest amounts in the coming years - about a centimeter per year per IPCC.
Like the bogus idea that polar bears are diminishing this sounds to me like another fake catasatrophe used in lieu of the real facts based on IPCC, which indicate modest changes and not catastrophic ones. For all the talk of straw men by GW folks I’d like to see people stick to the science, which by no means calls for the catastrophes that are used to whip up hysteria. I’ve given up on assigning much credibility to headlines like this because they seem designed more to spur people to action than to add to understanding. Shame on you for that approach.
March 4th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
I hope this is just a natural cycle of the earth. I like the cold Michigan winters.