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Michael, you wrote:
"Don't go there ...
The Scillonians may well need the sternboard as a piece of emergency
flotation equipment: the whole group was one island in the bronze age."

LOL. Well, let's hope it doesn't sink before the end of the month! I
wouldn't be shocked if the islands and reefs there were more connected 5000
years ago, maybe with an overlay of earth dumped by the glaciers that has
since mostly eroded away. Off the coast of New England, the large islands of
Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and especially Block Island, were much larger
back then. They are entirely glacial debris --no rocky core-- and in the
long-term (thousands of years), they may disappear completely. I'm aware
that some folks have inferred from ancient description that Scilly was a
large land mass, but count me skeptical on the claim that the rocky core of
the Scillies is actively sinking.

"The steady geological sinking is continuing quickly enough for locals to
notice the apparent change in sea level in one lifetime..."

Globally, realtive sea level has been rising at a steady pace of about eight
to twelve inches per century for at least 175 years (there are local
variations since the land is also rising or falling in areas affected by the
last Ice Age). And that is definitely noticeable if you pay close attention
over many decades (or better yet, if you measure it with a proper tide
gauge). What's suprising is perhaps the fact that this steady change has
gone mostly un-noticed. It's happening in the Isles of Scilly and New York
City, too. In Mystic, Connecticut, just off the headland where Mystic
Seaport was built, there used to be a small muddy island. In photos from the
19th century, it's often visible. Today, it only emerges a few times a year
at extreme low water (very low astronomical tides accompanied by strong
offshore breezes). The muddy patch is still called an island, and most
locals assume it's just an ironic naming...

 -FER


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