What causes sea-level rise?
• The first – one that climatologists have predicted for several years – is caused by thermal expansion: warm water takes up more space than cold water. When you increase the temperature of the ocean by a few degrees, it gets a lot bigger; and • 70% of Earth’s fresh water is locked up in ice, glaciers and ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. For a long time, scientists thought that these massive sheets would take a thousand years to melt. We have had to revise our expectations surprisingly quickly as evidence mounts of accelerating melting. How much will sea level rise and when will it happen? Scientists and planners have known for more than a decade that the sea level is rising. In 1995, the EPA estimated that a 2-3 foot sea-level rise was possible over the next several generations. Climate change scientists have recently revised their predictions in response to a quicker than expected warming trend. Global warming has accelerated the melting of ice in Greenland, Antarctica, and th
Sea-level rise is caused by the warming of the ocean and the melting of glaciers, both of which may result from a warmer climate. Warmer water expands and takes up more space. Sea-level changes measured at coastal tide gauge stations also include vertical movement of the land. In the CARA region, land is subsiding as a result of adjustments due to the disappearance of ice sheets after the most recent ice age.
