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Researchers say that sinking land in the Bay Area will increase the risk of flooding predicted for 2100 due to rising sea levels.

Several locations, such as Treasure Island, Foster City and the San Francisco Airport could be at risk, according to researchers from University of California at Berkeley and Arizona State University.

These sinking land areas could nearly double the impact of flooding from sea level rise alone.

Original estimates predicted that 20 to 160 square miles of the San Francisco Bay Area could be flooded by 2100, based on the rate of sea level rise.

Taking into account subsidence, or the gradual sinking of land, researchers say this number could increase to between 48 and 166 square miles.

Even then, the number offered by scientists is only an average. If there are king tides, storms, or other scenarios of peak water-level change, scientists say the risk of flooding could be even higher.

“The ground goes down, sea level comes up and flood waters go much farther than either change would produce by itself,” said author Manoochehr Shirza, a member of NASA’s sea level change planning team and a former UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow.

Researchers say city planners and local officials will use their findings to plan for the future and improve emergency response strategies.

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  6. A giant desalination plant would work too. Pump fresh water out of the Bay really, really fast into the new trans delta tunnel that Gov Brown is pushing. This would solve the State’s fresh water problem too. Voilà, two problems solved with one action. And it can all be ours for less than the price of high speed rail.

    So what do you want? Giant desalination plant to keep the low lands from flooding and provide lots of fresh water or high speed rail?

  7. From my 2017 Fire Board President’s Report:

    Sea Level Rise Planning and Preparedness
    Over the next few decades a large portion of the Eastern side of the Fire District (Menlo Park and
    East Palo Alto) will be below sea level and an even larger portion will be subjected to significant
    seasonal flooding. There has been no planning for this hazard and significant efforts need to be
    made now to mitigate those flood hazards, to provide for a real time warning system that does
    not rely on cell phones or the internet and to provide well thought out neighborhood evacuation
    plans for all of the potentially impacted areas AND for the adjacent areas which will, of
    necessity, serve as evacuation sites (whether planned for or not).
    Reference: The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World
    by Jeff Goodell
    In addressing these challenges, I note with concern that there is a huge disconnect between the
    Fire District’s responsibility to respond to these disasters and the County, Cities and Town’s
    legal responsibilities for transportation design, approval of new commercial and residential
    developments, disaster planning (including warning systems and evacuation plans) and post
    disaster rebuilding.

  8. The National Academy of Sciences predicts depending on how much green house gases are released that the Pacific Ocean and hence the SF Bay water level will rise up to a foot in 12 years, 2 feet in 32 years and 5 feet in 82 years.

    A one foot rise will put any land within a mile of the Bay underwater, 2 feet will cross the 101,

    This Chicken Little effect is getting old guys, you’re losing credibility,

    Look back at “An Inconvenient Truth” and you will realize the sky may be falling but nothing near the rate Al Gore laid out.

    Be realistic and maybe people will stop and listen. Gore said by 2015 we would all be swimming. You’re only hurting your own credibility.

    Follow the money, Do you really think all the Mega Tech companies would be building on waterfront landfill that would put them underwater in 5-10 years. “Cmon” give them a little credit, I trust their judgement more than Al Gore.

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