Guide of SEA LEVELS

RealClimate » How much future sea level rise? More evidence from models and ice sheet observations.
Filed under: Paleoclimate Climate modelling Arctic and Antarctic — eric @ 11:03 am Lots of press has been devoted to four papers in this week's Science , on the topic of ice sheets and sea level..
Second, in a paper by Overpeck et al., they examine the implications for past and future sea level rise.
The results show that the Greenland and other Arctic ice sheets probably did not contribute more than 3.4 m to the LIG sea level rise.
However, data from coral reefs exposed above sea level today, and other evidence, point to an LIG sea level at least 4 m and possibly as much as 6 m greater than today.
This is turn implies a strong sensitivity of the Antarctic ice sheet to sea level rise and climate warming -- an idea that goes back to John Mercer (1976) but that had until recently fallen out of favor in much of the glaciology community.
Projecting forward in time, the implication is that our future will also see 4-6 m of sea level rise, and that -- given the recent evidence for accelerated flow of both Greenland and Antarctic glaciers -- this may occur much faster than we expect.
The rate of sea level rise associated with the warming into the last interglacial was probably greater than 10 mm/yr* while current sea level rise is roughly 3 mm/yr.


SEA LEVELS

Coastal Zones and Sea Level Rise | Climate Change - Health and Environmental Effects | U.S. EPA
Key concerns include sea level rise, land loss, changes in maritime storms and flooding, responses to sea level rise and implications for water resources..
Sea Level Rise Sea level is rising along most of the U.S.
In the last century, sea level rose 5 to 6 inches more than the global average along the Mid-Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, because coastal lands there are subsiding..
The IPCC found significant uncertainty in the analysis of 20th century sea level change.
Also, there is little knowledge about the regional pattern of sea level change.
EPA, in coordination with other agencies, is leading the development of a federal study titled “Coastal Elevations and Sensitivity to Sea Level Rise.” The study is one of 21 such studies being conducted by the U.S.
Higher temperatures are expected to further raise sea level by expanding ocean water, melting mountain glaciers and small ice caps, and causing portions of Greenland and the Antarctic ice sheets to melt .
The IPCC estimates that the global average sea level will rise between 0.3 and 2.9 feet (0.09 to 0.88 meters) in the next century (IPCC, 2001 )..
Furthermore, some processes affecting sea level have long (centuries and longer) time-scales, so that current sea level change is also related to past climate change, and some relevant processes are not determined solely by climate.

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Recent Climate Change - Sea Level Changes | Science | Climate Change | U.S. EPA
Sea levels are rising worldwide and along much of the U.S.
(IPCC, 2001 ) Tide gauge measurements suggest that sea level has risen worldwide approximately 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) during the last century (IPCC, 2001 ).
A significant amount of sea level rise has likely resulted from the observed warming of the atmosphere and the oceans.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the primary factors driving the past century's sea level rise include:.
The expansion of ocean water caused by warmer ocean temperatures (contributing approximately 1-3 inches or 3-7 cm) The melting of mountain glaciers and small ice caps (contributing approximately 1-2 inches or 2-4 cm) Other factors may also be responsible for part of the historic rise in sea level, including the pumping of ground water for human use and the melting of polar ice sheets in response to the warming that has occurred since the last ice age..
Considering all of these factors, scientists still cannot account for the last century's sea level rise in its entirety.
It is possible that some contributors to sea level rise have not been documented or well-quantified..
While the global average sea level rise of the 20th century was 6-8 inches, the sea level has not risen uniformly from region to region..

Benefits



Sea level rise doubles in 150 years | Science | Guardian Unlimited
Search all jobs Sea level rise doubles in 150 years · Increase blamed on fossil fuel use since 19th century.
· Cut in greenhouse gases futile, researchers say Ian Sample, science correspondent Friday November 25, 2005 The Guardian Global warming is doubling the rate of sea level rise around the world, but attempts to stop it by cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions are likely to be futile, leading researchers will warn today.
The oceans will rise nearly half a metre by the end of the century, forcing coastlines back by hundreds of metres, the researchers claim.
Today's warning comes from US researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey who analysed cores drilled from different sites along the eastern seaboard.
The analysis showed that during the past 5, 000 years, sea levels rose at a rate of around 1mm each year, caused largely by the residual melting of icesheets from the previous ice age.
But in the past 150 years, data from tide gauges and satellites show sea levels are rising at 2mm a year.
Rising sea levels will also add to the destructive power of storm surges triggered by hurricanes such as Katrina which battered New Orleans and surrounding areas this year.

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