Southeast Louisiana - Coursework Example

Part 1:

1. It took the Mississippi river over 7,000 years to build Southeast Louisiana. But since the 1930’s it has lost over 2,000 square miles of land primarily because of humid interventions.
2. 6000 years ago most of Southeast Louisiana did not exist. About 4,600 years ago glaciers left from the ice age were still melting, increasing the sea level across the globe.
3. Mississippi River changed its direction towards New Orleans and Pine Island approached west toward the Mississippi River. 4,000 years ago, the Mississippi River nearly connected with Pine Island and closed up the Pontchartrain Bay.
4. Most maps of Louisiana are deceptive because they still depict the 1930s coastline giving a false sense of security. The land protecting New Orleans from the Gulf of Mexico was still healthy, most of which has been cut away by nature.
5. Louisiana is currently losing 24 square miles of wetland per year which is roughly a loss of football field every 45 minutes.
6. Six factors contributing to the loss of wetlands include levees and jetties, canals and channels, land subsidence, saltwater intrusion, invasive species, and sea level rise.
7. Soft sediment beneath the Louisiana coast is sinking. As water and gases are squeezed out by the soil’s own weight, new sediment fails to replenish the loss causing a loss of 4 feet of land at the mouth of Mississippi every 100 years.
8. Thousands of miles of web-like navigation canals are responsible for destroying 10% to 30% of the marshes. These canals are also responsible for an unknown percent of land loss because they cut off marshes from natural water flow, opening them up to saltwater intrusion and erosion.
9. Salt water from the Gulf moves inland through canals and waterways killing freshwater plants that can’t stand the salt. As the plants die, the soil their roots hold together is eroded away, destroying marshes and wetlands.
10. The construction of levees began in 1718, to protect the cities from the Mississippi river’s springtime floods and to create stable channels for shipping.
11. The construction of levees cut off sediment-rich flood water which built the land on which the cities sit causing the land to sink.
12. From 1932 to 2000, Louisiana lost nearly 2,000 square miles of land bringing the Gulf of Mexico near to the resident’s backyards. If nothing is done to stop the current situation, geologists predict an additional 7,000 miles of land could disappear by 2020.
13. New Orleans should not be built again. The coastline of New Orleans is very dangerous and it will soon be destroyed again because the city is protected by the levees which contribute to land loss.
14. Many suggest that New Orleans should be rebuilt with Green Communities in mind (Lange, 2005). But it is still better to relocate the city as it is 10 feet below sea level and prone to hurricanes.

Part 2:

20. Hurricane Katrina was accurately predicted by the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center on August 29, 2005 (Msnbc, 2005).
21. Hurricane Katrina occurred because some levees in New Orleans were replaced with walls approximately 2 feet thick to widen the canal which fell during the hurricane (Hurricane Katrina Relief, 2010).
22. The nature of Hurricane Katrina changed dramatically from 28 to 29 August. Studies suggest that this change in nature from a tropical storm to category 5 and then back to category 3, is directly associated with the landfall in Louisiana (Richard D. Knabb, 2005).
23. The water rise in Lake Pontchartrain weakened the floodwalls and about 80% of New Orleans was flooded (Richard D. Knabb, 2005).
24. Every official forecast after the landfall in Louisiana did anticipate that Hurricane Katrina is going to be at least category 3 on the Northern Gulf coast (Richard D. Knabb, 2005).
25. It is said the damage done by Hurricane Katrina could have been avoided. The state was aware of the intensity of the hurricane and should have taken measures to avoid the death of 1,300 people. It is said that the military lacked cooperation with Homeland Security and other relief agencies (Fox News, 2006).
26. It is not possible to prove that global warming caused Hurricane Katrina but it is possible to determine whether global warming intensifies the events (Young, 2007). However, the temperature difference between the sea surface and the air plays an important role in causing hurricanes (Young, 2007).
27. The emission of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere causes global warming. The most common of these gases are carbon dioxide, ozone, and methane. These greenhouse gasses contribute to the greenhouse effect which reflects heat energy back to Earth dramatically increasing the temperature of the Earth (Time for Change, 2010).