SEA LEVEL SURGES AT FASTER RATE

THE GLOBAL SEA LEVEL IS NOT RISING AT A STEADY RATE, IT IS ACCELERATING A LITTLE EVERY YEAR.

RATE OF INCREASING

0.08 millimetres per year ( mm/ year)

WHICH MEANS

Annual rate of sea level rise of 10 mm/ year, or even more, by 2100. This acceleration, driven mainly by accelerated melting in Greenland and Antarctica, has the potential to double the total sea level rise by 2100 as compared to projections that assume a constant rate - to more than 60 cm instead of about 30 — STEVE NEREM, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder

OBSERVATIONS

SEA LEVEL continues to change in the future as it has over the last 25 years. GIVEN THE large changes we are seeing in the ice sheets today, that is not likely.

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN?

If the oceans continue to change at this pace, sea level will rise 65 cm by 2100 — enough to cause significant problems for coastal cities.

CAUSES

Rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere increase the temperature of air and water, which causes sea level to rise in various ways.