6 Billion Euros Later, Venice's MOSE Flood System Won't Even Come Close To Dealing W. Future SLR

[hatrack]

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Most environmental scientists and engineering experts believe the Electromechanical Experimental Module, or MOSE, is probably obsolete already, despite being years away from completion, assuming the complex underwater technology ever works. It was designed 20 years ago when the projections for sea level rise throughout the century were not nearly as dire as they are now. They are only expected to grow as ice melts in Greenland faster than anticipated. Their fears echo those of environmentalists in New York about a giant system of retractable seagates that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is studying as a way to protect Manhattan from another storm surge like Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Both the Italian and American projects raise fundamental questions about the ability to hold back the rising tides in coastal cities worldwide. Piero Ruol, a professor of Maritime Construction at the University of Padua, said even best-case scenarios for carbon reduction would result in enough sea-level rise to require that the MOSE stay shut over six months a year, which would essentially kill the Venice lagoon environmentally. "Therefore, the MOSE can not be considered a solution that 'lasts forever' for protecting Venice from flooding," he said, "and it is time to think of new solutions for solving this delicate conundrum, in the face of climate change."

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Filippo Giorgi, a climatologist who from 2002 to 2008 was a member of the executive committee of the IPCC, said that its most optimistic scenario foresees global temperatures rising by about 1 degree Celsius by the end of the 21st century (compared to today's temperatures) and a further sea level rise of about 40 centimeters, with a margin of error of 10 centimeters, compared to current levels. "We must note that even under this scenario, the values of sea level increase up to the end of the 21st century and even beyond," said Giorgi, who has contributed to the IPCC activities since the 1990s.

Under the most pessimistic, "business-as-usual" scenario, the planet would warm by about 4 degrees Celsius, with a sea level rise of 75 centimeters, plus or minus 20 cenimeters. "So let's say from 55 centimeters to almost 1 meter," he said. And this estimate is likely to increase in the next IPCC report in 2021 because the ice in Greenland is melting much faster than earlier models indicated, Giorgi said.

"More worrying," he said, "is that we still do not know exactly why. One of the theories is that pollution makes the Greenland ice darker, and being darker it absorbs more solar radiation and melts faster. The difference in temperature between the last glacial period, 20,000 years ago, and today is around 5 to 7 degrees, so we are talking about huge global warming values​​ in 80 years, an unprecedented speed of warming."

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11052020/coronavirus-venice-canals-clear-climate-change-flood

[hunter]

1. A dam across the Straight of Gibralter ought to solve the problem...