- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

3… 2… 1… Gone: NASA’s Launchpads Vulnerable to Climate Change

© Flickr / NASA/Bill IngallsSTS-135 Atlantis Launch (201107080015HQ)
STS-135 Atlantis Launch (201107080015HQ) - Sputnik International
Subscribe
As NASA celebrates the successful completion of the Orion test mission Friday, scientists are concerned climate change could be threatening the home base for future missions to the stars.

Two University of Florida geologists say sea level rises related to climate change, plus increased wave energy from hotter global temperatures are putting the iconic Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral at risk of extensive damage. They're concerned that global warming could significantly affect the operation of the facility within the next ten years.

Flying Blind

"We were a little blind to it, like pre-Katrina New Orleans," said one of the researchers, assistant professor Peter Adams, at the university’s geological sciences department. "Now that we've seen it, we're sensitive to it." 

Another researcher, John Jaeger, says the impact of climate change is most easily seen in damage to Cape Canaveral’s dunes and beaches. That became most apparent after Hurricane Sandy. “Sandy got a lot of press up north, but it really did a tremendous amount of damage at Cape Canaveral," Jaeger said. 

"Areas that had previously been relatively stable for decades … suddenly they were gone."

Here is some evidence that climate change is wreaking havoc at Cape Canaveral right now:

Sand dunes that protected the Cape during some of the the worst storms of the 20th century were wiped out by Tropical Storm Fay in 2008

A railroad that runs along the beachfront is expected to be underwater by 2016

Erosion was so bad near one of the launch towers that an important security fence was left dangling, ready to collapse.

No Surprise

I’m not surprised at all,” Dr. Michele Koppes, professor of landscapes and climate change at the University of British Columbia, told Sputnik. “It’s not surprising you would see erosion of sand dunes — they’re in constant flux anyway. If it’s anything like the barrier islands on the east coast of North America, the bigger the storm events are the easier it is to breach these migrating barrier islands.”

The revelations about the Kennedy Space Center and climate change happened after NASA partnered with the US Geological Survey to find out why a stretch of beach between two important launchpads — those used for the Space Shuttle and the Apollo missions — was suffering chronic erosion. It had always been a problem, but engineers noticed it had been getting worse since a volley of hurricanes slammed into Florida in 2004. 

A Managed Retreat

NASA is already dealing with this potential crisis as a reality. They’re taking an approach called “managed retreat”. If the problem gets worse, and the sea gains an even bigger toehold on the Cape, then the organization will have to relocate roads, utilities and perhaps even launch pads.

A “managed retreat” is something we may all have to endure if climate change does not abate.

Given the state of our climate and that we have so much carbon in the atmosphere,” said Dr. Koppes, “the acceleration in change of temperature, moisture in the atmosphere, isn’t going to change for a long time, even if we remove our extraneous carbon input. We need to adapt to the changes that are already underway.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала