For thousands of years, sea level has remained relatively stable and human communities have settled along the planet’s coastlines. But now Earth’s seas are rising. Globally, sea level has risen about eight inches (20 centimeters) since the beginning of the 20th century and more than two inches (5 centimeters) in the last 20 years alone.
All signs suggest that this rise is accelerating. Captions: NASA
Image source: Watching Rising Seas From Space, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Video.
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The consequences of global sea level rise could be even scarier than the worst-case scenarios predicted by the dominant climate models, which don’t fully account for the fast breakup of ice sheets and glaciers, NASA scientists said today (Aug. 26) at a press briefing.
What’s more, sea level rise is already occurring. The open question, NASA scientists say, is just how quickly the seas will rise in the future…
Read Full Article, LiveScience
NASA Science Zeros in on Ocean Rise: How Much? How Soon? NASA
Warming seas and melting ice sheets, NASA
Sea level rise is a natural consequence of the warming of our planet. We know this from basic physics. When water heats up, it expands. So when the ocean warms, sea level rises. When ice is exposed to heat, it melts. And when ice on land melts and water runs into the ocean, sea level rises.
For thousands of years, sea level has remained relatively stable and human communities have settled along the planet’s coastlines. But now Earth’s seas are rising. Globally, sea level has risen about eight inches (20 centimeters) since the beginning of the 20th century and more than two inches (5 centimeters) in the last 20 years alone.
All signs suggest that this rise is accelerating.
While NASA and other agencies continue to monitor the warming of the ocean and changes to the planet’s land masses, the biggest concern is what will happen to the ancient ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica, which continue to send out alerts that a warming planet is affecting their stability…
Warming Seas Rising Faster Than Predicted, NASA Scientists Say, Bloomberg Business
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTBWjDUkTzI[/youtube]
Watching Rising Seas From Space: A NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Video,Uploaded on Youtube August 25th, 2015.
Oceanographer Josh Willis from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory narrates this video about the causes of sea level rise and how sea level has changed over the last two decades as observed by the Jason series of satellite missions.
