Climate experts call sea level rise inevitable
We've heard the doomsday stories about melting ice caps and rising sea levels. But by now, many of us have assured ourselves that nothing disastrous will occur, and that if we carpool just a wee bit more, climate change will come to a screeching halt.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. At the Four Degrees and Beyond International Climate Conference held at Oxford University late last month, experts concluded that a rise of at least two meters in the world's sea levels is inevitable, no matter what carbon emission-reducing measures are put into place.
Sea levels rise primarily due to a process
known as thermal expansion. In the case of sea water, as the temperature of water increases, water molecules move at a much faster rate. Because they are moving more quickly, the average separation between each molecule increases, leading to an increase in volume.
Carbon dioxide emissions are the driving force behind global warming, causing heat from the sun that enters the atmosphere to be reflected back onto Earth's surface instead of exiting back into space. Experts predict that this will cause an increase in global temperatures of at least two degrees Celsius within the next one hundred years, compared to the 0.7-0.8 increase in the
past century.
The other, more well-known, contribution to rising ocean levels is the melting of ice sheets and glaciers in the northern and southern regions of the planet.
"If you melt ice caps and glaciers on land," said Ben Zaitchik of the Hopkins Earth and Planetary Science department, "then you move water storage from land to the ocean and the sea level will rise." The combined melting of the Greenland ice sheet, the Antarctic ice sheet and small glaciers could contribute to over 60 percent of total sea level rise.
"It's not so fast yet, but the scary thing, at least also from a societal point of view, is that it is accelerating," Pier Vellinga, a faculty member at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and one of the speakers at the conference, said.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. At the Four Degrees and Beyond International Climate Conference held at Oxford University late last month, experts concluded that a rise of at least two meters in the world's sea levels is inevitable, no matter what carbon emission-reducing measures are put into place.
Sea levels rise primarily due to a process
known as thermal expansion. In the case of sea water, as the temperature of water increases, water molecules move at a much faster rate. Because they are moving more quickly, the average separation between each molecule increases, leading to an increase in volume.
Carbon dioxide emissions are the driving force behind global warming, causing heat from the sun that enters the atmosphere to be reflected back onto Earth's surface instead of exiting back into space. Experts predict that this will cause an increase in global temperatures of at least two degrees Celsius within the next one hundred years, compared to the 0.7-0.8 increase in the
past century.
The other, more well-known, contribution to rising ocean levels is the melting of ice sheets and glaciers in the northern and southern regions of the planet.
"If you melt ice caps and glaciers on land," said Ben Zaitchik of the Hopkins Earth and Planetary Science department, "then you move water storage from land to the ocean and the sea level will rise." The combined melting of the Greenland ice sheet, the Antarctic ice sheet and small glaciers could contribute to over 60 percent of total sea level rise.
"It's not so fast yet, but the scary thing, at least also from a societal point of view, is that it is accelerating," Pier Vellinga, a faculty member at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and one of the speakers at the conference, said.
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