Hey Mark I enjoyed your post. I'm an American living in the Netherlands. An interesting little fact to add to your post is that the Netherlands offered to help the US with the devastating aftermath of hurricane Katrina. They declined. Imagine where things would be now if the result US learned from them earlier.
Hello Susan (and welcome to Substack) and thanks for subscribing! I have some experience in the Netherlands and it is an intriguing place! What a great place to be as I think the Dutch are open to the world in ways many nations are not. RE KATRINA: Arrogance and hubris are bad human traits and they apply to countries at times. I understand from my past work with a scientific firm that the US Navy engaged the Netherlands on a number of occasions. They have a long-standing embrace of the impact of sea rise as they are on the front lines. Many of the Pacific Island bases have adopted policies to be ready or at least cope. I am happy you found that post. It is funny as I love language but not surprisingly some didn't want to look at something with such an unusual title I am afraid.
I don't use it often but like the way it rolls off the tongue. There is a unit of measurement of brightness called nits and it is often quoted with cell phone brightness. Its fun to think that one nit is not very bright :) -- Thanks for reading and commenting Chuck.
THIS IS COMMENT 2 -- COMMENT 1 ANSWERS YOUR QUESTION
Although a bit of a tangent, this is interesting. Because the Netherlands has a terrible location based upon the historic belligerence of Germany, the extensive below sealevel dikes in the Netherlands around the polders gives them a simple and devastating defense against German behavior. If the Netherlands opened their gates, they can readily flood most of the breadbasket of Germany with salt water and decimate the ability of Germany to feed its people. This would make the land not arable for many years and perhaps decades.
Double fascinating! Ingenious of the Netherlands. But also terrifying to think of the ocean as an instrument of war. Having done my fair share of body surfing, I know the ocean is vicious.
You need to do something if you have lived next to Germany for centuries :) The scale of the oceans are ridiculous especially if you are just bobbing on top. I have struggled for the way to describe how immense the change in our atmosphere has become in order to raise sealevel. It is mind-boggling but when folks hear a couple of centimeters they go with oh well.
I enjoy writing but am a newb. While the writing is fun, the dialog that sometimes emerges (like this) is even better. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
The Netherlands is at the chokepoint of the funnel of water that might rapidly enter the North Sea during stormy conditions. The geometry of the underwater governs how high things get. This is SIMILAR to the risks when an earthquake occurs offshore and the very small wave travels and ONLY RISES when it approaches unusual inlets with very steep underwater slopes. This is why the tidal waves in Alaska rise so high in certain areas.
So to your question, because the volume of the ocean is basically infinite for math purposes, even a catastrophic scale storm will exit to the south into the Atlantic Ocean. The walls would be built in areas prior to the final upward slope of the underwater terrain where the height difference is still quite small. We have this problem on a smaller scale due to the geometry of the Gulf of Mexico. We don't do anything about it except thoughts and prayers and a few dikes around New Orleans.
MANY years ago I worked in the energy sector with nuclear power. There is a reactor in Central California named Diablo Canyon. It is only 40+ miles from the San Andreas Fault. After construction was largely complete, another fault offshore called the Hosgri fault was noted and VERY CLOSE TO SHORE. The design basis accident for the plant changed from a major earthquake inland to one in the water and a subsequent tidal wave. The inlet was quite deep and only minor modifications were necessary. The geometry of the inlet was important in the decision process. When I was working there the best thing was the water was warm due to the exhaust of the cooling loops and attracted migrating whales.
A small country, surrounded by belligerents can only thrive by being competent. The Netherlands, by most measures (happiness, lifespan, health, shared infrastructure) seems to be a very COMPETENT country.
I understand that Singapore is working closely with the Netherlands to guide their future of sealevel rising and more energized storms. I am sure the many will just ignore it until it reaches a crisis. I will check out Instituto Cervantes. Thanks
Hey Mark I enjoyed your post. I'm an American living in the Netherlands. An interesting little fact to add to your post is that the Netherlands offered to help the US with the devastating aftermath of hurricane Katrina. They declined. Imagine where things would be now if the result US learned from them earlier.
Hello Susan (and welcome to Substack) and thanks for subscribing! I have some experience in the Netherlands and it is an intriguing place! What a great place to be as I think the Dutch are open to the world in ways many nations are not. RE KATRINA: Arrogance and hubris are bad human traits and they apply to countries at times. I understand from my past work with a scientific firm that the US Navy engaged the Netherlands on a number of occasions. They have a long-standing embrace of the impact of sea rise as they are on the front lines. Many of the Pacific Island bases have adopted policies to be ready or at least cope. I am happy you found that post. It is funny as I love language but not surprisingly some didn't want to look at something with such an unusual title I am afraid.
"Nitwits." A good word :-)
I don't use it often but like the way it rolls off the tongue. There is a unit of measurement of brightness called nits and it is often quoted with cell phone brightness. Its fun to think that one nit is not very bright :) -- Thanks for reading and commenting Chuck.
Genuine question: if the Netherlands builds that damn, where will all the water go? Does it mean that floods in other places will get worse?
THIS IS COMMENT 2 -- COMMENT 1 ANSWERS YOUR QUESTION
Although a bit of a tangent, this is interesting. Because the Netherlands has a terrible location based upon the historic belligerence of Germany, the extensive below sealevel dikes in the Netherlands around the polders gives them a simple and devastating defense against German behavior. If the Netherlands opened their gates, they can readily flood most of the breadbasket of Germany with salt water and decimate the ability of Germany to feed its people. This would make the land not arable for many years and perhaps decades.
Double fascinating! Ingenious of the Netherlands. But also terrifying to think of the ocean as an instrument of war. Having done my fair share of body surfing, I know the ocean is vicious.
You need to do something if you have lived next to Germany for centuries :) The scale of the oceans are ridiculous especially if you are just bobbing on top. I have struggled for the way to describe how immense the change in our atmosphere has become in order to raise sealevel. It is mind-boggling but when folks hear a couple of centimeters they go with oh well.
Right. It’s a matter of rhetoric.
I enjoy writing but am a newb. While the writing is fun, the dialog that sometimes emerges (like this) is even better. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Thanks for writing about such interesting stuff!
A great question Jillian!
The Netherlands is at the chokepoint of the funnel of water that might rapidly enter the North Sea during stormy conditions. The geometry of the underwater governs how high things get. This is SIMILAR to the risks when an earthquake occurs offshore and the very small wave travels and ONLY RISES when it approaches unusual inlets with very steep underwater slopes. This is why the tidal waves in Alaska rise so high in certain areas.
So to your question, because the volume of the ocean is basically infinite for math purposes, even a catastrophic scale storm will exit to the south into the Atlantic Ocean. The walls would be built in areas prior to the final upward slope of the underwater terrain where the height difference is still quite small. We have this problem on a smaller scale due to the geometry of the Gulf of Mexico. We don't do anything about it except thoughts and prayers and a few dikes around New Orleans.
This is super fascinating! Thanks for such a great answer. I never thought about the geometry of oceans.
MANY years ago I worked in the energy sector with nuclear power. There is a reactor in Central California named Diablo Canyon. It is only 40+ miles from the San Andreas Fault. After construction was largely complete, another fault offshore called the Hosgri fault was noted and VERY CLOSE TO SHORE. The design basis accident for the plant changed from a major earthquake inland to one in the water and a subsequent tidal wave. The inlet was quite deep and only minor modifications were necessary. The geometry of the inlet was important in the decision process. When I was working there the best thing was the water was warm due to the exhaust of the cooling loops and attracted migrating whales.
A small country, surrounded by belligerents can only thrive by being competent. The Netherlands, by most measures (happiness, lifespan, health, shared infrastructure) seems to be a very COMPETENT country.
I understand that Singapore is working closely with the Netherlands to guide their future of sealevel rising and more energized storms. I am sure the many will just ignore it until it reaches a crisis. I will check out Instituto Cervantes. Thanks