Saturday, November 24, 2012

Sandy Island?

Sandy Island which is in between New Caledonia and Australia is being removed from Google maps because it is underwater now. My thought is that the island existed until the water covered it over as it rose up. When I visit Hawaii on Maui a place where I have stayed several times over the last 15 to 20 years now has water coming up at high tide into the shrubberies of the resort. Whereas 15 or 20 years ago the water might have been 1/2 block out to sea. So, with a name like Sandy Island it likely means that it didn't have enough altitude for trees to grow and that they would have been washed away when storms occurred even as coconuts often travel the ocean on the winds and plant themselves on little sandy islands here and there. So, this likely says that the island likely wasn't above a few feet high and is now underwater at some point sometime in the last 20 years. So, now even at low tide it isn't above water anymore. There likely are many little islands now underwater and many more to come this century and after. Within 100 years likely most of Florida will be underwater too, for example, unless soil is brought in or moved around to raise the elevation some place because most of Florida is under 50 feet above Sea Level.

 I made it a point to  live at the beach and to be over 100 feet above sea level so that Tsunamis wouldn't swamp the house when there are Pacific Ocean area  Earthquakes or rising oceans in the Pacific. For example, the Fukushima Reactor in Japan was hit with I believe a 40 to 60 foot tsunami wave but they were prepared for I believe only a 20 foot tsunami and that is why the reactors melted down there.

begin quote:
The tsunami that crippled backup power supplies at the plant on the afternoon of 11 March, leading to the meltdown of three reactors, was more than 14 metres high.
end quote from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/29/fukushima-daiichi-operator-tsunami-warning

14 meters equals 14 times 39.37 inches which equals 45.93 feet of Tsunami Wave that hit Fukushima.
Also, if you have ever observed a wave hit a rock or cement wall, 45.93 feet when hitting something solid would rise up to 100 feet in the air(the first hit of the wave on a solid object) because of the concussion and compression of hitting that object. And since a Tsunami wave is not like a normal wave in that the wave elevation will continue at that location for some time at 45+ feet before it very very slowly subsides out to sea. So, the staying power of a tsunami wave was likely what did the most damage there to the emergency diesel generators and because the power was knocked off all over Japan because of the earthquake,  meltdown(s) were only a matter of time from this point on.

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