Week 8 - Time Travel - J.Haynes

My Wife and I decided to visit Fernandina Beach, Florida, 5,000 years into the future. Prior to our traveling, I found that Fernandina is subject to a "2.15 mm/year" (NOAA, n.d.) trend rise in its' visible sea level. With this average, I multiplied the 2.15mm a year by 5,000 and resulted in 10,750mm which is 423.23 inches or 35.27 feet. Considering Fernandina Beach has an elevation of "25 ft" (Wikipedia, 2020), this general area will more than likely be 'under water' in the time of our targeted destination. Additionally, "the combined land and ocean temperature has increased at an average rate of..." "...(0.13F) per decade since 1880...", though, "the average rate of increase since 1981...", is, "...0.32F) per decade. (Dahlman & Lindsey, 2020) Given .13F per decade is .013 per year, multiplied by 5,000 is an estimated temperature increase of 65F. Of course, this is not calculated with the increase or decrease affect of negative human-caused anthropogenic activities that increase greenhouse gases such as, deforestation, pollution, and fossil fuel burning.

We expected at least a 35-foot difference in sea-level and planned accordingly by teleporting a farther distance from the shore and during the 'winter' months with Kayaks and fire suits. Upon arrival, we noticed a definite temperature increase within the month of January from the average low of "44"F (U.S. Climate Data, 2020) to greater than 160F. This seems to correlate with the .32F decade (.032F/year) increase in temperature since the 1980's as mentioned previously. This correlated data originally showed almost double the temperature increase since the advancement of technology and mass production in combination with fossil fuel burning, or anthropogenic factors. Such data proved true in the variable increase from 2020 to 7020. With this, a heavy smog was present as far as the eyes could see which combined with the difficulty in breathing due to our unadapted lungs and such hot climate.

The sight of hundreds of motorized gas boats with occupants in fire proximity suits that seemingly took the place of commuter cars due to the vast amount of water as far as the lower Georgia coast and the 160F plus temperature, inferred that nothing was done to counteract human-made global-warming factors. Considering the temperature in this time, it can also be inferred that this sort of climate change was not due to natural global warming factors.

With almost all of Florida being under water and the temperature being almost unbearable to support human-life, it definitely seems that nothing was done to stop such negative environmental factors and all individuals were forced to adapt to their current conditions. My Wife and I left after less than an hour and were ecstatic to be in our 86F south Georgia weather!

[Below Image Caption: City Underwater]



[Above Image Credit: (Fournier, 2014)]

References:

Dahlman, L. & Lindsey, R. (16 Jan 2020). Climate Change: Global Temperature. Retrieved 27 Apr. 2020 from: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature.

Fournier, A.B. (11 Dec 2014). City Of The Future: Would You Live Underwater? Retrieved 28 Apr. 2020 from: https://www.builddirect.com/blog/city-of-the-future-would-you-live-underwater/.

NOAA. (n.d.). Sea Level Trends. Retrieved 27 Apr. 2020 from: https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends.html.

U.S. Climate Data. (2020). Climate Fernandina Beach - Florida. Retrieved 27 Apr. 2020 from: https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/fernandina-beach/florida/united-states/usfl0144.

Wikipedia. (2020). Fernandina Beach, Florida. Retireved 28 Apr. 2020 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernandina_Beach,_Florida.