Cartology Affirms Relative Sea Levels Were Similar To Or HIGHER Than Now During The Little Ice Age

Surprisingly accurate nautical maps created the 17th to 19th centuries strongly suggest coastal land area in both hemispheres were quite similar to today’s. There is even evidence relative sea levels were higher than now back then.

Image Source: Etsy.com

Globally, coasts have grown since the 1980s

Between 1985 and 2015, satellite observations indicate the world’s coasts gained 13,565 km²  more land area than they had lost to the seas (Donchyts et al., 2016).

This means more coastal land area is above sea level today than in the 1980s.

This surprises scientists, as they “expected the coast would start to retreat due to sea level rise,” but instead they observed “coasts are growing all over the world.”

Image Source(s): Donchyts et al., 2016 and BBC (press release)

Duvat (2019) also identified a global trend in island shoreline net growth since the 1980s despite recent sea level rise, as none of the globe’s islands larger than 10 ha – and just 1.2% of the 334 islands larger than 5 ha – have decreased in size since the 1980s.

These recent trends would appear to be the opposite of what would be expected with modern global warming.

Are relative sea levels lower now than during the 1800s?

As the climate warms and glaciers and ice sheets melt, it’s assumed coasts should be much smaller today than they were during the much colder and more glaciated Little Ice Age (1400-1900 A.D.).

But shorelines are not clearly smaller today according to highly detailed maps dated to the 17th to 19th centuries.

Below are 4 examples of direct comparisons between today’s Google Maps images of islands and maps from 1802, 1873, 1893, and even 1640. Each suggest there may have been slightly more land area underwater during the Little Ice Age than today.

1. An 1893 nautical map of the UK’s Isle of Man shows there was more land area underwater in 1893 than in 2019.

Image Source: Antique Maps Online

2. Here is an 1802 nautical map of New York City and Long Island. There may have been more open waters in this region during the Little Ice Age than in 2019.

Image Source: Amazon.com

3. A 1640 Dutch map of Taiwan shows this land area was no larger than it is today during the Little Ice Age. It even seems small nearby islands were further underwater 380 years ago than they are now.

Image Source: Wikipedia

4. An 1873 nautical map of Tasmania shows similar-sized to smaller coastal land area nearly 150 years ago when compared to images from today.

Image Source: Wikipedia

11 responses to “Cartology Affirms Relative Sea Levels Were Similar To Or HIGHER Than Now During The Little Ice Age”

  1. Kurt in Switzerland

    Absolutely hilarious, if it weren’t so tragic what these turkeys are doing to the reputation of science.

    One would think that such observations might as a minimum result in fewer claims of “acceleration” in sea level rise… but alas, no.

    1. Yonason

      Shocking Revelation…

      When the choice is between increasing knowledge and increasing funding, it’s amazing how many unscrupulous louts there are who will opt for the latter, especially when they aren’t very good at the former.

  2. John F. Hultquist

    but the most surprising thing is that the coasts are growing …

    “surprising” to Dr. Baart, but not to me.
    I’ll not mention coral growth (Wait, I just did!).
    Any one that studies geology, geography, or related material well knows of the concept of “physical weathering” whereby small pieces are created out of larger ones.
    Colluvium (also colluvial material or colluvial soil) is a general name for loose, unconsolidated sediments that have been deposited at the base of hillslopes by either rainwash, sheetwash, slow continuous downslope creep, or a variable combination of these processes. from Wikipedia
    I will mention, but refrain from explaining, transport and sedimention.

    1. pochas94

      “I will mention, but refrain from explaining, transport and sedimention.”

      Do it, at some length. It would be of considerable interest.

      1. John F. Hultquist

        Except for a small bit on climate change, this is a good start. It is listed as Chapter 6: Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition, and has many photos and drawings.
        https://physicalgeog.pressbooks.com/chapter/chapter-6/

    2. John

      Tasmania and UK are due to isostatic rebound from melting of glaciers from last glaciation (relative sea level is probably decreasing locally like in Scandinavia). Taiwan expands towards the East because there is massive erosion from the 4000m mountain range towards the West. The new land is at the mouth of these West-East rivers. NYC stuff is probably artificial because tide gauges there show 2.5 somthing mm/year increase

  3. lindsay phillips

    Good morning Pierre,
    I have some info you may be interested in.
    I am setting up a new web-site to try & help reverse all the bollocks re this subject (esp. in Australia) in the coming weeks.
    My notes are unfortunately a little too large to fit here & I hope you could give me an alternate email address to use.
    Thanks in anticipation.
    Kind regards, Lindsay Phillips

  4. Cartology Affirms Relative Sea Levels Were Similar To Or HIGHER Than Now During The Little Ice Age | Un hobby...

    […] K. Richard, December 5, 2019 in […]

  5. Adam Gallon

    How much of the “new” land, in the New York & Long Island map, is landfill?

  6. Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #389 | Watts Up With That?
  7. Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #389 – All My Daily News

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