Australian floods lowered worldwide sea levels

[xchrom]

http://grist.org/news/australian-floods-lowered-worldwide-sea-levels/

Flood-inducing rainfall in Australia in 2010 was so severe that it lowered worldwide sea levels.

Scientists have been puzzled by satellite data that shows sea levels fell in 2011. A paper published this month in the journal Geophysical Research Letters attributes a lot of the surprising sea-level decline to antipodean deluges — record-breaking rainfall that was linked to climate change.

Seas have been rising by about 3 millimeters a year in recent decades. But from mid-2010 until 2011 sea levels dropped by 7 millimeters, as shown in this graph:



Australia is home to geological formations similar to lakes — scientists call them arheic and endorheic basins — that do not flow to the ocean. Instead they empty by gradually evaporating. About 40 percent of precipitation in most continents flows into the ocean, but in dish-shaped Australia, that figure is just 6 percent.

[Demeter]

1. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Gaia works in mysterious ways

and 30 years of relatively global weather data do not suffice to establish a climate "crisis".

[pscot]

2. Does this mean we could save the Jersey Shore

by flooding Australia?

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Amazing… 7mm

I just find that incredible.