Study: Sea level rising at "unprecedented" pace
A tugboat moves across New York Harbor Oct. 19, 2009, in New York City. / Getty Images
WASHINGTON - Sea level has been rising significantly over the past century of global warming, according to a study that offers the most detailed look yet at the changes in ocean levels during the last 2,100 years.
The researchers found that since the late 19th century — as the world became industrialized — sea level has risen more than 2 millimeters per year, on average. That's a bit less than one-tenth of an inch, but it adds up over time.
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It will lead to land loss, more flooding and saltwater invading bodies of fresh water, said lead researcher Benjamin Horton whose team examined sediment from North Carolina's Outer Banks. He directs the Sea Level Research Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania.
The predicted effects he cites aren't new and are predicted by many climate scientists. But outside experts say the research verifies increasing sea level rise compared to previous centuries.
Kenneth Miller, chairman of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers University, called the new report significant.
"This is a very important contribution because it firmly establishes that the rise in sea level in the 20th century is unprecedented for the recent geologic past," said Miller, who was not part of the research team. Miller said he recently advised New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie that the state needs to plan for a sea level rise of about 3 feet by the end of the century.
Horton said rising temperatures are the reason behind the higher sea level.
Looking back in history, the researchers found that sea level was relatively stable from 100 B.C. to A.D. 950. Then, during a warm climate period beginning in the 11th century, sea level rose by about half a millimeter per year for 400 years. That was followed by a second period of stable sea level associated with a cooler period, known as the Little Ice Age, which persisted until the late 19th century.
Rising sea levels are among the hazards that concern environmentalists and governments with increasing global temperatures caused by "greenhouse" gases like carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels like coal and oil over the last century or so.
Although melting icebergs floating on the sea won't change sea level, there are millions of tons of ice piled up on land in Greenland, Antarctica and elsewhere. Melting that ice would have a major impact by raising ocean levels.
The result could include flooding in highly populated coastal cities and greater storm damage in oceanfront communities.
While the new study does not predict the future, Horton pointed out that it does show "there is a very close link between sea level and temperature. So for the 21st century when temperatures will rise, so will sea level."
Two of his co-authors calculated in an earlier paper that sea level could rise by between 30 and 75 inches by the end of this century. And it might even rise faster than that, Martin Vermeer of Aalto University in Finland and Stefan Rahmstorf of Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact reported in 2009.
"Accurate estimates of past sea-level variability provide a context for such projections," co-author Andrew Kemp of Yale University's Climate and Energy Institute said in a statement.
Horton's team studied sediment cores from salt marshes at Sand Point and Tump Point on the North Carolina coast to develop their calculations of sea-level change over the two millennia. They analyzed microfossils in the cores and the age of the cores was estimated using radiocarbon dating and other methods.
For the years since tide gauges have been installed, those findings closely track the results from the study, the researchers noted.
While Horton's report is the first to produce a continuous record of the past 2,000 years "other studies show similar changes, especially concerning the acceleration in sea level rise in the 20th century," Miller said.
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Best seek some testing.
Al Gore has been found wanting of truthful commentary in his material and also the 'not so green' lavish jetsetting life he leads. Like Maurice Strong (Google him if care to) he has been trumpeting up a scare with the environmental change, all the while clipping the ticket for some ridiculous personal gain.
If one reads the studies and reports, you find the sun and oceans have a great deal to do with atmospheric temperatures. The shift from warm to cold and back again has occurred for millenia. Some time quickly other times gradually. Sea levels have risen and fallen.
And these were in times when anthro populations were less than a 10th of where they are now. We are but a small blot in the greater scheme of things. If we are responsible (which I highly doubt), we certainly do not have the means to alter it.
read Jeremy Clarkson: http://climaterealists.com/index.php?tid=44
Wow, can you imagine that! The climate changing due to the sun and not due to human actions! Who woulda thunk that!
Pretty much anyone except a liberal, that's who!
I am also curious why it is we keep funding climate change research, since these scientist have already told us climate change is proven and "settled" science.
Why not redirect all this money for global climate change research and use that for all the expenses the UN claims we need money for?
But instead they want tax money to keep giving these scientist the same grants, to study the "settled" science AND they want more money to solve global climate change!
How interesting it is always about more money, more money, more money!
Yes there has been climate change and temperature rises quite a few times in the distance past. Problems is how rapidly is the change? If you delve deeper you would notice it was a gradual change. And even with the gradual change some species were able to adapt and move territories. We are now talking about a sudden change in temperature. Can the earth and species on it adapt quickly enough? Take a look at the carol reefs. Can the coral move to cooler areas? I doubt they can pick up and run south in time enough to save themselves.
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Re: my post of June 21, 2011 2:25 AM EDT
Part 1: You did notice that the "spikes" in the average air temperature were, as it appears, cyclic. With approximately 110 to a 150,000 years between spikes. Which just happens to put us into the ballpark for another "spike" in global air temperatures.
Part 2: I did not deny, and even agreed with, the concept that human activity is exacerbating the current "spike" in global air temperature and causing it to elevate more rapidly than in past historical "spikes". I merely pointed out that in light of the evidence of the cyclic nature of the average global air temperature it is, at best hubris, to suggest as so many have done that human activity is the sole or even the primary cause of the current elevation in global air temperature.
Part 3: Your reference to coral reefs not being able to "pick up & run south in time enough to save themselves" is puerile.
Anyway, let's take each point and very simply examine each point:
How much do you think taxes on legalized marijuana would raise and compare it to the cost of all that needs to be done to treat, prevent and reverse global warming.
How much more enegy would be required to design, manufacture, implement and run these "pumps"? What would be the carbon footprint of such pumps?
And if temperatures are indeed rising can the excess water you envision actually freeze at the rate necessary?
Should we not leave the Earth a better place for our children and grandchildren? I'm young enough to be concerned about my future grandchildren's future. I'm young enough that I'm afraid that these changes will have a definite negative impact on my life. Are we not experiencing the wild fluctuation of climate change? What will happen in 2050 and yes I'm planning on still being around.