One snag I knew about before moving from Chester to Trafford in Greater Manchester is that I’ve only raised my house by 5 metres. My Chester house was at 17m above sea level. My Flixton house is at 22m asl. Hopeless for long term global warming and for tsunamis.
If all the ice in the world melted, the sea level would rise by about 70 metres. That won’t happen in my lifetime. I’m 75 this year so even if I live to a century, the sea level is only expected to rise by 0.35 metres, or 35 cm. This is being a bit selfish, since the rise will continue so the house value will sink along with the coast. Sorry kids and grandkids hoping to inherit this pile of bricks.
Watch this vid of sea level changes affecting Britain. This is How UK Looks Like If All Ice Melts – YouTube
We all hope that Greta Thunberg can persuade leaders to stop this happening.
However, tsunamis are another matter.
We’re lucky living in Britain because it is in the middle of a tectonic plate so generally only experience tremors and small earthquakes. However, the Atlantic ocean is on our western shores. In the middle of the Atlantic is the mid-Atlantic ridge: an active volcanic zone of which the Iceland volcanoes and hot geysers are at its northern end. Atlantic islands such as the Canaries is an active zone. Cumbre Vieja is the main volcano on the island of La Palma and has quaked and mini-erupted recently. It has a 1.5 trillion tonnes flank that if slipped into the Atlantic could created a megatsunami sweeping across to America and back to Europe with waves over 50 metres high, travelling at hundreds of miles per hour. See Canary Island Landslides and Potential Megatsunami | Coastal Processes, Hazards, and Society (psu.edu)
That’s just a volcano we know about. There are about 1500 dormant volcanoes on Earth and 600 active, even if in a small way. (tremors, gas and steam such as Vesuvius).
Suppose an underwater quake or volcano (Such as Tonga on the 17th Jan 2022) triggered a megatsunami across the Atlantic, are we safe here in Manchester? Not really. If Palma went it would take about a day for the wave to hit Ireland, whip around the Irish Sea and pile into western England. Much of its energy would’ve gone and possibly be only a ripple. However, if it did reach 50 metres height, I’d need to cycle fast to…where? The nearest high ground for me is Greenhill, only a 10 minute jog. It’s 30 metres tops. Not more than a 10 minutes drive are motorway flyover bridges that are about 50 metres high. But would I want to stop, possibly with thousands of others, on top of a trembling bridge while a tsunami bashed into the supports with trees, buildings and vehicles? No!
The nearest decent-sized hill is Rivington Pike at over 300 metres above sea level. Yay! Twenty miles north near Bolton, Lancashire. Ah, the route takes in the M60, M61 and the A6. Could be jammed with traffic normally let alone with a few hours notice for everyone to reach high land.
My son lives in Nottingham at 100 metres asl but 77 miles East Southeast and more motorways. If the tsunami was really slow yet inexorable then our Manchester branch of the family could invade his house.
Two things mollify this impending doom:
It’s never happened to Britain in recorded history
Tsunamis are over quickly. Maybe build an ark instead.
Nelder News
The third book in the Flying Crooked series of SF novellas, Kepler’s Son is due out later this year. The fourth volume, Vanished Earth, has been written and going through beta-readers. Thanks to Frances Gow, Mark Iles and Reb – a genius Russian émigré whose own literary fiction will be out soon. When descendants of Suppose We return to find their mother planet, Earth, it’s gone! What happened? Is that it hiding inside Jupiter? Loved doing the research for this.
Also published recently was ALIEN EXIT a science fiction first-contact novel as an
ebook only https://mybook.to/alienexit A friend, Kevin Haylett loves experimenting with abstract art and has allowed me to use this fabulous art for Alien Exit promo.
Revised Xaghra’s Revenge set in present-day and 16th Century Malta and Gozo now retitled as Vengeance Island http://mybook.to/VIsland
Escaping Reality – humorous thriller • http://hyperurl.co/nyjaiv
Hot Air – thriller set in Mallorca • http://hyperurl.co/di4y0h
ARIA: Left Luggage – infectious amnesia scifi • smarturl.it/1fexhs
ARIA: Returning Left Luggage • http://hyperurl.co/tgtid6
ARIA: Abandon Luggage • http://hyperurl.co/26trxv
Incremental – 25 surreal short stories • http://mybook.to/Incremental
Suppose We -science fiction space exploration • https://mybook.to/SupposeWe
The Chaos of Mokii ebook at https://mybook.to/Kaos
Home • http://geoffnelder.com
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