Latest Current sea level rise Stories

Ministers from 70 countries will congregate in Indonesia Monday to discus how to save the world's oceans and to plan climate change discussions in December.The five-day World Ocean Conference in Manado city is being called a unique congregation on the oceans' part in justifying climate change and the cost of higher temperatures like rising seas, loss of species and famine.  Environment, fisheries and resources ministers are anticipated to concur where the direction of the Copenhagen...

Most comprehensive seabed image of Amundsen Sea EmbaymentMotorway-sized troughs and channels carved into Antarctica's continental shelves by glaciers thousands of years ago could help scientists to predict future sea-level rise according to a report in the journal Geology this month (May).Using sonar technology from onboard ships, scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the German Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) captured the most extensive, continuous set of images of the seafloor...

U.S. government scientists say their research indicates the effects of significant global warming on Earth can no longer be avoided. But the researchers said a worldwide reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would reduce the effects, lessening sea-level rise and possibly saving Arctic Sea ice. The study, led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, determined that if all nations cut emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by 70 percent this century, the most...

U.S. and British government researchers announced on Friday that climate change is quickly shrinking one Antarctic ice shelf, while another is disappearing and glaciers are melting faster than climate scientists originally predicted, Reuters reported.Scientists noted that the Wordie Ice Shelf, which has been disintegrating since the 1960s, is gone and the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf no longer exists. Since 1986, over 3,200 square miles have broken off from the Larsen shelf.U.S....

According to the UN Environmental Program, an enormous breakaway piece of Antarctica's ice shelf could amplify the already significant effects of global warming in the region.The 40-kilometer (25-mile) ice bridge "“ which was the Wilkins Ice Shelf's last bridge to the coast "“ has now completely broken off and can be seen in satellite images as a free-floating island of ice roughly the size of Jamaica. Before it starting melting in the early 1990's, Wilkins Ice Shelf had an area of...

Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide is largely responsible for recent global warming and the rise in sea levels. However, a team of scientists, including two Smithsonian ecologists, have found that this same increase in CO2 may ironically counterbalance some of its negative effects on one of the planet's most valuable ecosystems"”wetlands. The team's findings are being published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of March 23.The team conducted their study for two...

A robot submarine studying the underbelly of an Antarctic ice shelf has found evidence of rising sea levels, scientists reported on Tuesday.Developed by UK's National Oceanography Center of Southampton, Autosub is an Automated Underwater Vehicle (AUV). It has completed six missions traveling under Pine Island Glacier, an extension of the West Antarctic ice sheet in the Amundsen Sea.The sub uses sonar to create a three-dimensional map of the seabed and the underside of the ice. Scientists hope...

A U.S. researcher says global warming is expected to cause the sea level along the northeastern U.S. coast to rise nearly twice as fast as global sea levels. And that, said Jianjun Yin, a climate modeler at the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies at Florida State University, puts New York City at greater risk for damage from hurricanes and winter storm surges. Yin said he has determined there is a better than 90 percent chance the sea level rise along the heavily populated...

Scientists warn New York City could be at risk to damage from hurricanes and storm surges because they predict global warming could lift sea levels twice as fast as global rates. "The northeast coast of the United States is among the most vulnerable regions to future changes in sea level and ocean circulation, especially when considering its population density," said Jianjun Yin, a climate modeler at Florida State University.The new study predicts a slowdown in Atlantic Ocean...

Scientists at a Denmark conference say rising sea levels will have a major negative impact on 1-in-10 humans living in the Earth's low-lying coastal areas. Research presented during this week's International Scientific Congress on Climate Change in Copenhagen shows the upper range of sea level rise by 2100 could be in the range of about 1 meter (3 feet) or possibly more. At the lower end of the spectrum, studies show it is increasingly unlikely sea level rise will be much less than 50...