sea level

Rising sea level prompts city to build St. Paul's Hospital to withstand future floods

Rising sea level prompts city to build St. Paul's Hospital to withstand future floods

The construction of the new St. Paul's Hospital and Health Campus in East Vancouver's False Creek is in progress, but the project won't be completed anytime soon as the facility needs to withstand future floods that could come with rising sea levels. According to the senior sustainability specialist with the City of Vancouver, infrastructures around the municipality were built at a time when water levels were predictable and there were no concerns for rising sea levels — so the city is not prepared for what might come in the next 30 years.

Arctic Ocean was once a tub of fresh water covered with a half-mile of ice

Arctic Ocean was once a tub of fresh water covered with a half-mile of ice

The Arctic Ocean was once a pool of fresh water capped with an ice shelf half as thick as the Grand Canyon is deep. If that's hard to envision, don't despair. Scientists were surprised at the discovery, published Wednesday (Feb. 3) in the journal Nature, as well. The trick to envisioning this odd arrangement is to think about the relationship between ice sheets and the ocean. When ice sheets melt, they dump water into the ocean, raising the sea level. But when ice sheets grow, as they have during Earth's glacial periods, sea level drops.

CANADA IN 2030: Future of our water and changing coastlines

CANADA IN 2030: Future of our water and changing coastlines

Flooding in New Brunswick, drought in the Prairies, disappearing permafrost in the North, and the oceans creeping up on our coasts - the reality of a changing climate in Canada is becoming harder to ignore, and the United Nations has stated that it is the biggest systematic threat to humanity.