New Study Shows That Global Sea Levels Are Rising (All Together Now!) Faster Than Expected
A new study has found that sea levels are rising faster than expected, which would put 40% of the world’s population living in coastal regions at elevated risk.
Published Feb. 2 in the European Geosciences Union journal Ocean Science, the study introduced a new method of quantifying sea level rise by comparing historical sea level data with the sea’s “sensitivity” to warming. What it ultimately found was that current estimates of sea level rise — including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) projection that sea levels will rise by about a meter (39 inches) by the end of the century — were conservative.
So how much more is the sea expected to rise? Lead author Aslak Grinsted, associate professor at the University of Copenhagen’s Niels Bohr Institute, said he is hesitant to put forward a number since the study itself does not make a projection for the future. “It’s not really like we make a correction and we don’t really give a number,” he told Mongabay in an interview. “But we say that it’s probably 25 centimeters [10 in] per century higher than what we thought. That’s the closest thing to a correction that we can get.” The study also suggests that the world would need to emit 200 gigatons to 300 gigatons less of carbon dioxide, and cool the Earth by about 0.6° Celsius (1° Fahrenheit), for sea level rise to correlate with previous models, Grinsted said.
“The most unpredictable thing is human behavior, I think,” Grinsted said. “And then secondly what will happen to Antarctica.” Another study recently identified that Antarctica’s Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers, whose melting has already contributed to 5% of global sea rise, could be on the verge of breaking apart, releasing even more water into the oceans and contributing to more sea level rise.
EDIT
https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/new-study-warns-that-sea-levels-will-rise-faster-than-expected/
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