All efforts to save the Mississippi river delta and the bayous, barrier islands and near-sea-level marshes of the Gulf of Mexico coastline will fail if sea level rise caused by warming oceans doesn't stop. Katrina and the BP oil spill are the first 2 catastrophes of many that can be expected as the delta drowns by 2100.
Above, modified satellite images show the river's delta plain as it appears today (top) compared with how much of the region might be submerged by 2100 due to a combination of trapped sediment and rising seas.Channelization of the Mississippi starved the delta of sediment, allowing large areas to slowly sink into the Gulf. Now, sea level rise caused by glacial melting and thermal expansion of sea water is rapidly removing large areas of coastline.
continued at Daily Kos...
