Six massive glaciers in West Antarctica are moving faster than they did 40 years ago, causing more ice to discharge into the ocean and global sea level to rise, according to new research.
Sea Level is Rising Faster than Initially Thought
December 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Sea level is rising 60% faster than the IPCC fourth assessment projected. That is according to researchers from Germany, the US and France. The researchers analyzed global temperature and sea-level data for the past few decades and compared them to projections published in the third and fourth assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The results show that global temperature continues to increase in good agreement with the best estimates of the IPCC, especially if effects of short-term variability due to the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, volcanic activity and solar variability are also taken into account. The rate of sea-level rise of the past few decades, on the other hand, is greater than projected by the IPCC models. This suggests that IPCC sea-level projections for the future may also be biased low.
Officer of the Watch 