So I have just had two weeks in beautiful Italy. Half of that time was spent attending a palaeobotany conference (posts on that topic will follow this one) and half on holiday. Part of my holiday was spent visiting Venice. A beautiful city crammed with tourists, but strangely peaceful (probably the lack of cars). Well as anyone who has visited Venice will know there isn't much height between you and the lagoon/canals. This puts Venice (and all of its cultural treasure) on the front line of sea-level rise. This site (
http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/venice.shtml ) gives you the opportunity to see how much sea level rise will submerge Venice (only 3 metres for my favourite ice cream shop....). However, sea-level rise isn't Venice's only enemy, the very buildings that form the backdrop to this unique city are compacting the ground and causing subsidence. So unfortunately it may take a lot less than 3 metres of sea-level rise to destroy my favourite gelateria.....
Sea-level rise isn't the only thing that has Venice's famous canals rising ever-so-slightly every year: The city is also sinking, a new study shows, in contrast to previous studies that suggested the city's subsidence had stabilized.
unknownx500
