Well, They Needed New Sea Walls Anyway

NOTE: I wrote this piece last night before the Japan earthquake hit and sent tsunami waves toward Orange County. I had planned to post it early this morning, but delayed it due to the breaking news. The existing sea walls got a bit of a workout today.
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My wife and I are frequent visitors to Balboa Island in Newport Beach, CA  The low-lying city is getting nervous about global warming:

Newport Beach is taking the first steps to avert a potential crisis of increasing concern up and down the California coast: rising sea levels in the decades to come.

The city has begun planning for structural changes, such as raising sea walls by a foot, and is studying how projected increases in sea level would affect low-lying Balboa Island.

“Private sea walls, public sea walls: we’re kind of looking at all of them,” said City Manager Dave Kiff. “At the same time, we’re looking at low-lying properties — for a new building proposal, they might be required to elevate the buildings a little more.”

The city also is taking an especially close look at the sea walls around Balboa Island.

“Balboa Island is really the oldest sea wall we have,” said deputy public works director and city engineer Dave Webb. “We’re more concerned about the structural integrity of it. It’s approaching 100 years old.”

Newport’s effort is in the early, study phase, but it is one of several California coastal cities taking action to beef up protection based on forecasts of sea-level rise.

Such projections, drawn from scientific efforts to anticipate the effects of global climate change as the century unfolds, are especially difficult to make, and their ranges vary considerably — as much as a six-foot rise by 2100 at the high end.

But even moderate and more near-term estimates — an average of 14 inches, say, by 2050 — could have a “huge effect” on the California coast, said Lesley Ewing, senior coastal engineer at the California Coastal Commission.

My prediction - in 2050 they'll have nice new sea walls and the ocean level will be right where it is today. But at least they'll have their new walls.