Rising sea levels - my theory!
As some of you know, as a child I lived in the cottage by the Old Mill at Bodnant Garden. I used to play in the river. Just downstream from the stone bridge by the Mill there are two small weirs - I think it was where they moored barges in the 1800's when the Mill was operating as a corn mill - but that theory has not been proved, or disproved.
My point here concerns the level of the river at high tide. When I was there as a child (1950's) the river would rise to near the top of the weir nearest the stone bridge. Only on spring tides would it come over.
Now, at high tide, the level of the river is well above that weir, certainly by a few inches - and it happens every time, not just spring tides.
Why has the level risen?
We hear lots of claims of global warming, melting the ice caps which add to the water already making up 2/3rds of the world's surface.
But ... ever ince time began there have been streams and rivers that start on high ground and flow down to the seas and oceans ... carrying with them fine grains of earth, slowly eroding the landscape. You only have to compare the Conwy Estuary sandbanks to how it used to be. All those grains will have slowly dropped to the bottom of the ocean so causing the sea level to rise. Didn't Archimedes come up with something about that?
Add to the trillions of fine grains, rocks and vegetation that have difted seawards, as well as all the rubbish that is being deposited in the sea, ranging from modern plastics to numerous ship wrecks carrying cargo round the world, and you wll realise that they must be displacing the water. Eureka!
No mention of global warning above - just my theory ... !!!