New science suggests the ocean could rise more — and faster — than we thought

Climate change could lead to sea level rises that are larger, and happen more rapidly, than previously thought, according to a trio of new studies that reflect mounting concerns about the stability of polar ice.

The Pine Island Glacier ice front.

In one case, the research suggests that previous high-end projections for sea level rise by the year 2100 — a little over three feet — could be too low, substituting numbers as high as six feet at the extreme if the world continues to burn large volumes of fossil fuels throughout the century.

“We have the potential to have much more sea level rise under high emissions scenarios,” said Alexander Nauels, a researcher at the University of Melbourne in Australia who led one of the three studies. His work, co-authored with researchers at institutions in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, was published Thursday in Environmental Research Letters.

Read Chris Mooney’s story from The Washington Post - “New science suggests the ocean could rise more — and faster — than we thought.”

Global sea level rise rate speeding up, 25 years of satellite data confirms

The rate of global sea level rise is accelerating as ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland melt, an analysis of the first 25 years of satellite data confirms.

Satellite data indicates sea levels will rise around 61 cm between now and 2100.

The study, by US scientists, has calculated the rate of global mean 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.

If the rate of change continues at this pace, global mean sea levels will rise 61 centimetres between now and 2100, they report today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"That's basically double the amount you would get if you only had 3 mm a year with no acceleration," said the study's lead author Steven Nerem of the University of Colorado.

Read the ABC News story by Genelle Weule - “Global sea level rise rate speeding up, 25 years of satellite data confirms.

Florida’s Sea Level Rose 6x Faster Than Average And It's Not Due To Climate Change

If you're living along the coast of Florida you experienced sea level rising six times faster than the global average and this was NOT a result of climate change. The rapid sea level rise along the US east coast from Cape Hatteras to Miami is the result of a localized sea level rise hot spot.

A new study, published in Geophysical Research Letters and undertaken by the University of Florida analyzed tidal and climate data for the southeastern seaboard of the United States. They found that between the years 2011 and 2015 sea level rose more than six times faster in the southeast United States as compared to global average sea level rise.

What is the cause of accelerated yet localized sea level rise? The answer is not climate change, but naturally-occurring climate variations superimposed on the background steady sea level rise due to a warming planet. While you may have heard of the gradual rise in sea levels globally over the past century, there appear to be rapid climate processes that affect localized sea levels on the year(s) time scale.

Read the Forbes story Trevor Nace - “Florida’s Sea Level Rose 6x Faster Than Average And It's Not Due To Climate Change.”

1 in 5 people could be a refugee by 2100.

In the year 2100, 2 billion people—about one-fifth of the world’s population—could become refugees due to rising ocean levels. Those who once lived on coastlines will face displacement and resettlement bottlenecks as they seek habitable places inland.

“We’re going to have more people on less land and sooner that we think,” says lead author Charles Geisler, professor emeritus of development sociology at Cornell University.

“The future rise in global mean sea level probably won’t be gradual. Yet few policy makers are taking stock of the significant barriers to entry that coastal climate refugees, like other refugees, will encounter when they migrate to higher ground.

Read the Futurity story - “1 in 5 people could be a refugee by 2100.”

Climate change driven sea level rise threatens U.S. coastal cities

Sea level rise threatens nearly a trillion dollars
of U.S. coastal cities and as Australia has all its capital
 cities on the coast,it faces a similar dilemma.

Sea level rise may put nearly a trillion dollars of U.S. coastal homes underwater by the end of the century, a new real estate study has found.

Storm surges and higher tidal flows caused by climate change could gobble almost 1.9 million houses in hundreds of cities, according to a report by the real estate company Zillow. In total, homeowners could lose some $882 billion by 2100.

The report published Tuesday is based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) maps showing which coastal areas will be underwater with a projected sea level rise of six feet, in conjunction with the company’s database of more than 100 million homes nationwide. Six feet is the amount of sea level rise scientists most recently estimated in a study on climate change published in March.

Read the ClimateProgress story - “Sea Level Rise Could Put Millions Of U.S. Homes Underwater By 2100.”

Fossil fuels pushing global sea levels up since 1970

Global average sea level has risen by about 17 cm between 1900 and 2005. This is a much faster rate than in the previous 3,000 years.The sea level changes for several reasons, including rising temperatures as fossil fuel burning increases the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In a warming climate, the seas are expected to rise at faster rates, increasing the risk of flooding along our coasts. But until now we didn’t know what fraction of the rise was the result of human activities.

In research published in Nature Climate Change, we show for the first time that the burning of fossil fuels is responsible for the majority of sea level rise since the late 20th century.

As the amount of greenhouse gases we are putting into the atmosphere continues to increase, we need to understand how sea level responds. This knowledge can be used to help predict future sea level changes.

Read the story from the CSIRO blog - “Burning fossil fuels is responsible for most sea-level rise since 1970.”

Sea level rise most 'worrisome and visible' ramification of global warming

Sea level rise is one of the most worrisome and visible ramifications of global warming. New research published on Monday shows the startling present-day impacts of global warming-related sea level rise. It also demonstrates the potential for the situation to get much, much worse if emissions of global warming pollutants are not curtailed.

The new research sheds light on just how unusual modern-day sea level rise is, and how climate change is sending the sea lapping up and over our walls and onto shoreline roads, homes and businesses.

The first major report published Monday shows that human-caused climate change has prompted the fastest rate of sea level rise than any in at least the past 2,800 years. Even greater water rises are slated for the future as mountain glaciers and polar ice caps melt and ocean waters continue to heat up and expand.

Read the Mashable Australia story - “Sea level is now rising at fastest rate in nearly 3,000 years.”

NASA measures earth's vital signs

N

ASA measures earth’s vital signs and here it considers “Sea Level”.

It says, “Sea level rise is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming: the added water coming from the melting of land ice and the expansion of sea water as it warms.”

We have destabilized 'the great ice sheet' and now there's more

The great ice sheet of West Antarctica may have been irreversibly destabilized by humans, setting in motion a more than 10 feet of sea level rise.

We realized in 2014 and now 2015 could be the year of the double whammy — when we learned the same about one gigantic glacier of East Antarctica, which could set in motion roughly the same amount all over again.

The Washington Post says, “Northern Hemisphere residents and Americans in particular should take note — when the bottom of the world loses vast amounts of ice, those of us living closer to its top get more sea level rise than the rest of the planet, thanks to the law of gravity.”

The Post’s story - “The melting of Antarctica was already really bad. It just got worse.” – discusses just how badly we are messing up the planet.

Climate change is continuing

Multiple lines of evidence show that global warming continues and that human activities are mainly responsible.

The fundamental physical and chemical processes leading to climate change are well understood. CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology observations provide further evidence that climate change is real. The scientific understanding and the observations show that global trends in temperatures and sea level rise since the mid-20th century have been caused predominantly by human activities.

Natural climate variability also affected global-mean temperature and sea level during the past century, but much less than increasing greenhouse gases.

Read the whole report -