25 years of satellite data shows climate change is accelerating global sea level rise

NewsBharati    13-Feb-2018
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Colorado, February 13: The seas might erode many places on the land soon as climate change is speeding up sea level rise. An analysis of the first 25 years of satellite data confirms that the thinning of ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland are speeding up the already fast pace of sea level rise.

Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences published the study on Monday. If sea level continues to change at this rate and acceleration, sea-level rise by 2100 will be more than double the amount if the rate was constant at 3 mm per year. Sea level rise is not just going up at a steady rate of 3mm a year, but has been increasing by an additional 0.08mm a year, every year since 1993.

"This acceleration, driven mainly by accelerated melting in Greenland and Antarctica, has the potential to double the total sea level rise by 2100 as compared to projections that assume a constant rate, to more than 60 centimeters instead of about 30," said the leader of the research, Professor Nerem.

Continuous emissions of greenhouse gases are warming the Earth's atmosphere and oceans leading to thinning of ice as well as sea level rise. This predicted roughly additional 2 feet rise would cause significant problems for coastal cities around the world.

"This is the first satellite-based estimate of an acceleration number," Professor Nerem said."The number is useful because you can take the rate of sea level change and the acceleration, and extrapolate it in the future and see how it agrees with climate models."

Global sea level Antarctica Greenland Ice Thinning Climate change Global warming