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13th Feb 2018

Sea levels could be rising a centimetre a year by 2100 according to scientists

Alan Loughnane

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Worrying news.

Earth’s sea levels could rise by 1cm a year by the end of the century according to scientists.

According to a study released Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sea level rise is happening now and will only increase year on year.

The study has calculated the rate of global mean sea level rise is not just going up at a steady rate of 3mm a year, but has been increasing by an additional 0.08mm a year, every year for the last 25 years.

“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, said lead author of the study, Steven Nerem of the University of Colorado.

“And this is almost certainly a conservative estimate. Our extrapolation assumes that 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’s not likely.”

If the rate of change continues at this pace, global mean sea levels will rise 61 centimetres between now and 2100.

The process is accelerating, however, and the study shows that three-quarters of the acceleration since 1993 is due to the melting of the polar ice caps.

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