Atlantic Ocean is Rising Faster than Previous 4,000 Years

An international team of scientists has determined that the Atlantic Ocean rose faster in the 20th century than at any time in the last 4,000 years, but not uniformly along the coast.

One of the researchers, assistant professor Benjamin Horton in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, says: “There is universal agreement that sea level will rise as a result of global warming but by how much, when and where it will have the most effect is unclear.” He and other researchers have now started to tackle this issue.

Interestingly, the rate of sea level rise in recent years varies according to how far north or south you are on the coast.

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The researchers’ findings show a sea level rise 2 millimeters higher than the background rate of the last 4,000 years. They also show that it was greater the further south you went, from Maine to South Carolina, on the Atlantic coast of the United States. This is, apparently, the first “demonstrated evidence of this phenomenon from observational data alone.”

Horton says knowing more about past sea level rise is important to usefully tracking and predicting where and when sea level will rise as a result of rapid human-induced climate change. “Such information is vital to governments, commerce and the general public. An essential prerequisite for accurate prediction is understanding how sea level has responded to past climate changes and how these were influenced by geological events such as land movements.”

Horton and the others identified that previously (in the past 4,000 years) sea level rise was primarily due to coastal subsidence, which is land being “lost to subsidence as the earth continues to rise in response to the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period.” The researchers believe that this increased rate of sea level rise in the last 100 years or so is related to the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet combined with ocean thermal expansion.

For more detail on the study findings, they are published in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Geology.

via ScienceDaily

Image Credit 1: Paulo Brandão via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: midlander1231 via flickr under a Creative Commons license

By Zach | December 13, 2009 | Climate Change | 8 Comments |

Gerard Vaughan

Well, there are no Cat FISH around here and so whether Catfish are venomous or not is a bit academic for me at present !
I do wonder why it should be that the coasts should be subsiding – sinking – while the “ground is still rising because of the removal of the ice-sheets ” by the end of the last Ice-age.
Zoso

You are peddling outdated and false science you poor soul. I know it’s difficult to give up a belief that you have committed so much time and faith to.

All you climate change alarmists think you can see a light at the end of the tunnel, but it is that of an oncoming train called The Truth.

Lose your pathetic religion the world is quickly learning the truth about the fraud of Climate Change/Global Warming. No more Fairy Tales thanks.
Art Kulak

What’s wrong with this picture?

1. Well, let’s see, the scientists said they used 4000 years of data. I have to wonder from where, since no one has 4000 years of records on this data.

2. Only 4000 years? Hmm, the last ice age, as far as we can tell was several hundred thousand years ago. And the earth was apparently much warmer during the age of dinosaurs which was a couple hundred million years ago. And these so-called scientists have found the answer with only 4000 years of data?

3. The results of Horton’s “findings show a sea level rise 2 millimeters higher than the background rate of the last 4,000 years”. Hey Horton, that’s 5/64 of an inch! That’s 0.0787 inches. Over 4000 years. I’m surprised you couldn’t come up with a bigger number. The waves along the Atlantic coast are frequently 10 feet or more.

4. “They also show that it was greater the further south you went, from Maine to South Carolina, on the Atlantic coast of the United States”. A good old fashion plumber knows better than that. Water always seeks its own level. Not to mention the moon influenced tides pulling the oceans back and forth (up & down). (hint: figure it our Horton)

5. “This is, apparently, the first “demonstrated evidence of this phenomenon from observational data alone.” Really? Then where did Horton get the 4000 years of data? It seems to me Horton has a problem with what “observational data” actually is.

6. “land being lost to subsidence as the earth continues to rise in response to the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period.” This one really gets me. Horton, the weight of the ice hasn’t “left” the planet. Water and ice weigh the same, it’s only the displacement that has changed. Which brings us to last, but not least.

7. “The researchers believe that this increased rate of sea level rise in the last 100 years or so is related to the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet combined with ocean thermal expansion.” Ocean thermal expansion. Horton, what is the one unique property of water? As a (supposed) scientist, you should know that water CONTRACTS when it gets warmer (vs.melted ice). It EXPANDS when cooled (as in ice). If there is global warming, and the polar ice is melting because of it, the resulting melted ice (water) should take up less displacement than the ice did. So much for your thermal expansion theory!

8. OK, I lied. There’s one more. Benny Horton is assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Let me clarify what this means. It means he’s a graduate student who takes the load off the real professors who are supposed to be doing the teaching that the students actually paid for.

9. Oops. I lied again. “There is universal agreement that sea level will rise as a result of global warming”. Nope. Wrong again Benny. There is NOT “universal” agreement on this subject. Looks like you’re the liar this time. Furthermore, since when has consensus made for good science? Einstein? Copernicus? Galileo? Newton? Eratosthenes?
Zachary Shahan

Art, a few quick points.

This study is of Atlantic Ocean sea level rise on the East Coast of the United States. I don’t think they claim to find any ‘answer’ to the problem, just that they document the rise and mention that this is important information for future action.

Also, just a point (because it seems that it was missed above), the rise is for the last one hundred years, COMPARED TO the previous 4000 years. So, the rise is for a 100-year period of time not a 4000-year period of time as you mention above.

Regarding expansion because of the ice melting, I may be wrong but i think this is the point. Ice may take up more total space, but if it is sitting frozen above the sea (in the air), it is not accounted for in the sea level around the world. The ice melts and the sea level rises. I think this is not a question people are debating in the climate science field because this is actually quite elementary (maybe even more so than the fact that water expands when it becomes ice).

Some serious flaws in your criticisms of this ‘unqualified’ (implied by you) scientist,

Thanks for the concern, though
http://hellaheaven-ana.blogspot.com Ana

Zachary,
I also don’t understand how some scientists are so sure about some theories that are still a hypothesis.
This is not what science is all about.
http://hellaheaven-ana.blogspot.com Ana

LOL

I’m sorry. I didn’t realized this was an American Government site.
I’ll understand if you don’t publish my comments.
I love Americans.
I could never understand American politicians. Not a single one.
I don’t think I will in this lifetime.
Funny because i said that to an American friend and he said:
“I’m here and I don’t understand them either.”
You are far from your own citizens. You don’t even consider your people as people. You renamed them: “population”.
Shame on you. I know Americans that are paying high prize because of politicians.
If you treat your own citizens this way…
I guess I understood America policy right now.
Thank you for the serendipity.
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http://Web Danny

I wonder if this has anything to do with a further swing of the tilt of the earth since it is different from north to south??? I would also like to add, though we do not know exactly the future we can in fact know by the study of cycles things that may be inclined to happen and with that prepare accordingly so that we might maintain an abundance of food and water and shelter. We live in a world of change and used to migrate with it. Now we stay in one place so we should at least have the good sense to prepare and adjust.

ZacharyShahan.com

Tryin' to help the world, one letter at a time.

Atlantic Ocean is Rising Faster than Previous 4,000 Years

An international team of scientists has determined that the Atlantic Ocean rose faster in the 20th century than at any time in the last 4,000 years, but not uniformly along the coast.