Sea Levels Are 3 Inches Higher Than They Were in 1992

The satellites orbit the poles, measuring changes to the Earth’s land and water masses and work out differences in the planet’s gravitational field every 30 days. The remaining third results from melting mountain glaciers, the scientists conclude. “It would take centuries to reverse the development of ice retreat”.

Sea level changes are already affecting people around the world, bringing increased flood waters to places like Miami. What’s happening in Greenland is relevant to what’s going to happen to Antarctica in the future as well.

Also, the Antarctic ice sheet has lost an average of 118 gigatons a year.

Both sheets have been shedding ice in recent years, and scientists are scrambling to see whether the current losses will precipitate more dramatic losses in the future.

Change in ice mass from West Antarctica between January 2004 and June 2014, as measured by the GRACE satellite. “The effects and impacts of changing sea level are being felt now, in our country and throughout the world”.

Interestingly the rate at which the ice caps are melting is markedly different from north to south. While the Greenland ice sheet is vanishing in front of our eyes, losing 303 gigatons of ice a decade, the Antarctic ice sheet is losing about a third of that.

Scientists from NASA Wednesday presented satellite data gathered since 1992 that measured ocean levels rising at an average of 3 millimeters per year.

NASA released a new analysis projecting global sea levels to rise on a regular basis, as they already have been, indefinitely.

Flood protection measures and infrastructure in Metro Vancouver, to meet an estimated three-foot increase in the rise in sea levels by the year 2100, could cost $9.5 billion.

NASA researchers say HALF of Florida will likely be underwater by the year 2150.

The research shows the height of the sea surface is not rising uniformly everywhere.

What’s the likelihood that sea levels stay the same or actually fall?

But that looks set to change, he says.

But scientists have never seen an ice sheet collapse, so the question of when sea levels will rise drastically is a major mystery. “We can expect accelerated rates of sea level rise along this coast over the next decade as the region recovers from its temporary sea level ‘deficit, ‘ ” he said.

For example, at the Kennedy Space Center, NASA has been considering moving launch pads farther inland, due to sea levels. “Glaciologist Eric Rignot sums this prevailing view up when he stated “…we don’t really know”. But NASA scientists say new research suggests the upper end of that range is most probable.

“People need to understand that the planet is not only changing, it’s changed”, said NASA scientist Tom Wagner during the conference call. “The biggest uncertainty is predicting how quickly the polar ice sheets will melt”.

NASA Zeroes in on Ocean Rise: How Much?