Alaskan land surveyor shares pictures of crumbling coast...

Bit stuck for words, but seeing these sort of things is highly embarrassing as an Aussie when we have our leader pushing the "coal is good for humanity" barrow. (His words)
When permafrost starts melting like that its a bit scary.

Enjoyed the intro where Daryl is treating his wife so nicely to start the day.

The irony of a 747 Air Force 1 as a backdrop to the climate change rhetoric with the Commander in Chief's visit to my home state..

The real ironic thing is that the ice probably was the result of climate change...in other words you may find fertile land under the ice where life once flourished.

The animals living at that time were probably upset about the climate change that was happening as the snow started building up and covering the forage necessary for the continued existence of a species that was becoming first threatened, then endangered, and finally extinct.

Now it's finally being reversed and everybody is getting upset...:-D
I guess nobody likes change.

My thought is that I would like to see the extent of the coastline 1000 years ago compared to now.
You can't stop mother nature.

I'm sure it is frustrating watching pieces of a land you love topple into the sea.

imaudigger, post: 334545, member: 7286 wrote: The real ironic thing is that the ice probably was the result of climate change...in other words you may find fertile land under the ice where life once flourished.

The animals living at that time were probably upset about the climate change that was happening as the snow started building up and covering the forage necessary for the continued existence of a species that was becoming first threatened, then endangered, and finally extinct.

Now it's finally being reversed and everybody is getting upset...:-D
I guess nobody likes change.

I agree. The eco-system has changed...and will continue to change.

Down here in the prairie states there is plenty of evidence of man's ability to alter the environment quickly. Prior to 1930 some of the prairie had over 15' of friable topsoil. After poor farming practices and climatic hiccups those areas had less than 2' of topsoil after the Dust Bowl. Lincoln County, Oklahoma is a good example of what was fertile rolling prairie in 1900 and after thirty years it was nothing but red clay hardpan blowouts.

We were trying to follow some older recovery notes once in that area that called for a road that led to the top of a hill and a tri-station. It became evident that with the poor soil stability the old "road" had eroded and become a half-mile long, 25' foot deep, sixty feet wide gulley. We later had a control point on the top of that hill and its elevation was some 10' less than the tri-station that had once occupied the site.

The surface of the Earth is constantly changing. Apparently quicker in some places than others!!

paden cash, post: 334546, member: 20 wrote: I agree. The eco-system has changed...and will continue to change.

Down here in the prairie states there is plenty of evidence of man's ability to alter the environment quickly. Prior to 1930 some of the prairie had over 15' of friable topsoil. After poor farming practices and climatic hiccups those areas had less than 2' of topsoil after the Dust Bowl. Lincoln County, Oklahoma is a good example of what was fertile rolling prairie in 1900 and after thirty years it was nothing but red clay hardpan blowouts.

We were trying to follow some older recovery notes once in that area that called for a road that led to the top of a hill and a tri-station. It became evident that with the poor soil stability the old "road" had eroded and become a half-mile long, 25' foot deep, sixty feet wide gulley. We later had a control point on the top of that hill and its elevation was some 10' less than the tri-station that had once occupied the site.

The surface of the Earth is constantly changing. Apparently quicker in some places than others!!

One thing to think about is that the fertile topsoil didn't disappear off the face of the earth....it went somewhere. It may have blown over into a neighboring state where people are now growing corn or something.
Luckily, kids are going to college now to learn the science of farming and how to avoid this from happening in other places.

No doubt that the environment would be a little bit better off if there were a few less people on this planet.

imaudigger, post: 334549, member: 7286 wrote: One thing to think about is that the fertile topsoil didn't disappear off the face of the earth....it went somewhere.

That's an easy one. It's either impounded behind dams or washed out into the Gulf of Mexico. In order to control flooding and aid navigation, thousand of miles of levees were constructed to channelize the flow of the Mississippi River, denying the silt load to the flood plains, which is in big part why coastal Louisiana is disappearing.

That's progress.

Mathew King, Lakota Sioux Medicine Man, circa 1986

"I prophesy things that come to pass. God is going to put a judgment on the world. He‰Ûªs mad. I‰Ûªm sorry it‰Ûªs going to happen. He‰Ûªs not going to destroy the whole world. But every living thing will perish, and it‰Ûªll be maybe another million years before a new life begins again. Grandmother Earth will be alone. She‰Ûªs going to rest. All because of White Man‰Ûªs wickedness. You‰Ûªre going to fall and fall hard. You‰Ûªre going to be crying and wailing. You‰Ûªll realize you can‰Ûªt get away with destroying God‰Ûªs world. Don‰Ûªt think you can get away with it. God‰Ûªs going to wipe the wickedness from the earth. You can see his signs.Out in the West, Mount St. Helens volcano -- that‰Ûªs a sign. And there‰Ûªs going to be earthquakes; maybe half of California and half of Washington and Oregon will go into the water. The same in the East, and in the South. You‰Ûªre going to have volcanoes and earthquakes and hurricanes."

I'll stop here. This thread is diving off the deep end (Angel will not be happy).

Williwaw, post: 334588, member: 7066 wrote: That's an easy one. It's either impounded behind dams or washed out into the Gulf of Mexico. In order to control flooding and aid navigation, thousand of miles of levees were constructed to channelize the flow of the Mississippi River, denying the silt load to the flood plains, which is in big part why coastal Louisiana is disappearing.

That's progress.

I understand that the farming of that ground helped win WW1 (providing wheat to feed the troops).
It wasn't until the drought that there were problems.
A quick Google shows that the soil from the "Dust Bowl" was deposited from Texas to the East Coast. Probably very thin layer of soil!

Reminds me of a Clint Eastwood movie.

imaudigger, post: 334605, member: 7286 wrote: ....Probably very thin layer of soil!

Thin in some places, not so thin in others!:snarky:

Williwaw, post: 334542, member: 7066 wrote: The irony of a 747 Air Force 1 as a backdrop to the climate change rhetoric with the Commander in Chief's visit to my home state..

there were also at least three C-141 military transports at Kotzebue the other day... bringing in presidential infrastructure... I never saw an aircraft that big in Kotz before. All for probably a 2 hour visit.

Angel, post: 334480, member: 100 wrote: Gee I wonder who this is?? WTG Daryl!! :clap::clap::clap:

http://www.katu.com/news/local/Alaskan-land-surveyor-pictures-of-coast-crumbling-323537601.html

Thanks Angel...

They cut about 99.9% of everything I said ...

Daryl Moistner, post: 334619, member: 221 wrote: Thanks Angel...

They cut about 99.9% of everything I said ...

Daryl, from my point of view - that's actually a compliment...only .1% of the words that come out of your mouth are worth of inclusion in today's media stories. You must be a straight talker.

Daryl Moistner, post: 334619, member: 221 wrote: Thanks Angel...

They cut about 99.9% of everything I said ...

I saw the news feeds on FB about your interview and noted your trepidation about them making an agenda of your photos. I was gong to comment but I‰Ûªm not much of a FBer.
But you are correct. It is not about what you want to say but what they want to say.
I learned this in the 90‰Ûªs when I was interviewed as a man on the street at Penn Station in NYC.
There had been a terrorist attack bomb on an Amtrak train somewhere in the SW U.S. and a local NYC station was getting comments at the station. The reporter who I was told was an Oprah-like TV personality of NYC interviewed me for about 2 minutes. I don‰Ûªt know why she picked me. I gave good replies to her question. I called a friend from the platform to tell him about it and he VCRed it and sent it to me. When I viewed it, they had edited out comments to about 30 seconds and made my comments into ‰ÛÏcommercial‰Û for Amtrak. Not at all what I was saying.

All in All it was a good interview that you did. You presented your photos and they do tell a story. Is Obama drinking PBR?

Kudos to Daryl for keeping the subject in the National picture.....

You are right, it is happening everywhere, locally the Sulphur River bank falls away every year and adds sediment from Cass County to the Gulf of Mexico.

There was a band out of Louisiana called LeRoux that had a song line "they are washing us away" about all the erosion happening across the state and the depleting river delta at the Gulf Of Mexico.

The extremely deep layer of loess soils in Iowa started out as top soil a thousand miles away. Amazing how much wind erosion can do over 10,000+ years.

Daryl Moistner, post: 334615, member: 221 wrote: there were also at least three C-141 military transports at Kotzebue the other day... bringing in presidential infrastructure... I never saw an aircraft that big in Kotz before. All for probably a 2 hour visit.

I believe that one is a C-17 (replacement for the C-130). Most of the C-141's that I've seen in service have a characteristic bump on the top of the fuselage near the cockpit. Awesome picture though.

Daryl Moistner, post: 334619, member: 221 wrote: Thanks Angel...

They cut about 99.9% of everything I said ...

It's about damn time you got some recognition for your photography talent! B-)