Components Of Sea Level Rise

Sea level rise has been measured for long enough to quantify the general trend. As more data comes in and more analyses are concluded the finer details are being sorted. About half of the sea level rise (1.38mm/year) is simply from the oceans warming. As water heats up, it expands. A roughly equal amount of rise is from glaciers and ice sheets melting (Greenland = 0.73mm/year, glaciers = 0.38mm/year, Antarctica = 0.26mm/year). While the global average is 2.7mm/year, the east coast of the US is seeing larger rises as high as 9.1mm/year, while the west coast is actually seeing sea level drop slightly. Climate change isn’t just one number. There isn’t just one effect. There are several contributors and a variety of effects. Your region will differ. One irony continues to be the impact of sea level rise will probably be above average in D.C., where debates and denials continue.

(Click on the chart for the link.)

“Ocean Warming Is Making Floods Worse” – Climate Central