Sea level rising faster than any time in almost 3000 years: study
A woman walks through water in Miami during the September 2015 flood that was believed to have been caused by rising sea levels. (AFP)
New research has revealed that if it wasn’t for global warming, sea levels may have dropped instead of rising at the fastest rate seen in thousands of years.
Sea levels have risen by about 14 centimetres in the past 100 years according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal on Monday.
The rate has not been this fast in 2800 years and is predicted to keep rising as polar ice caps melt.
The study, which was a joint venture by universities in Europe, Asia and the United States, used sea level rise records from across the world to measure the rate.
By using old coral records and sediment drilling cores, researchers were able to compare the past 100 years of data with historical sea level variations from thousands of years ago.
The data revealed that if not for the impacts of man-made global warming, sea levels could have fallen up to three centimetres.
“The 20th century rise was extraordinary in the context of the last three millennia - and the rise over the last two decades has been even faster” Robert Kopp, an Earth scientist at Rutgers University and lead author of the study, said in a statement.
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