Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




CLIMATE SCIENCE
Rising sea levels of 1.8 meters in worst-case scenario
by Staff Writers
Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Oct 17, 2014


The storm surge of Hurricane Sandy reached 2.8 m above mean high tide in New York. In the future less severe storms will cause comparable surge levels due rising sea level. The unlikely worst case scenario for sea level rise this century is estimated to be 1.8 m, which would translate into approximately 20 times more frequent Sandy level surges. Image courtesy David Shankbone, CC-BY-3.0.

The climate is getting warmer, the ice sheets are melting and sea levels are rising - but how much? The report of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2013 was based on the best available estimates of future sea levels, but the panel was not able to come up with an upper limit for sea level rise within this century. Now researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute and their colleagues have calculated the risk for a worst-case scenario.

The results indicate that at worst, the sea level would rise a maximum of 1.8 meters. The results are published in the scientific journal Environmental Research Letters.

What causes the sea to rise is when all the water that is now frozen as ice and lies on land melts and flows into the sea. It is first and foremost about the two large, kilometer-thick ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica, but also mountain glaciers.

In addition, large amounts of groundwater is pumped for both drinking water and agricultural use in many parts of the world and more groundwater is pumped than seeps back down into the ground, so this water also ends up in the oceans.

Finally, what happens is that when the climate gets warmer, the oceans also get warmer and hot water expands and takes up more space. But how much do the experts expect the sea levels to rise during this century at the maximum?

Melting of the ice sheets
"We wanted to try to calculate an upper limit for the rise in sea level and the biggest question is the melting of the ice sheets and how quickly this will happen.

"The IPCC restricted their projektions to only using results based on models of each process that contributes to sea level. But the greatest uncertainty in assessing the evolution of sea levels is that ice sheet models have only a limited ability to capture the key driving forces in the dynamics of the ice sheets in relation to climatic impact," Aslak Grinsted, Associate Professor at the Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.

Aslak Grinsted has therefore, in collaboration with researchers from England and China, worked out new calculations. The researchers have combined the IPCC numbers with published data about the expectations within the ice-sheet expert community for the evolution, including the risk for the collapse of parts of Antarctica and how quickly such a collapse would take place.

"We have created a picture of the propable limits for how much global sea levels will rise in this century. Our calculations show that the seas will likely rise around 80 cm. An increase of more than 180 cm has a likelihood of less than 5 percent. We find that a rise in sea levels of more than 2 meters is improbable," Aslak Grinsted, but points that the results only concern this century and the sea levels will continue to rise for centuries to come.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
University of Copenhagen - Niels Bohr Institute
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








CLIMATE SCIENCE
Australia PM rebuffs Booker Prize winner criticism
Sydney (AFP) Oct 16, 2014
Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday brushed off criticism about Australia's environmental policies by newly crowned Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan, saying the country had "a very, very strong" record. Flanagan, an Australian, hit out at the government on Tuesday after being awarded the prize in London for his book "The Narrow Road to the Deep North", inspired by his father's experie ... read more


CLIMATE SCIENCE
China's ailing moon rover weakening

NASA Mission Finds Widespread Evidence of Young Lunar Volcanism

Russian Luna-25 Mission to Cost Billions

New Batch of Lunar Soil to be Delivered to Earth in 2023-2025

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Mars One -- and done?

MAVEN spacecraft's first look at Mars holds surprises

NASA's Opportunity Rover Gets Panorama Image at 'Wdowiak Ridge'

Comet's Close Encounter 'One in a Million'

CLIMATE SCIENCE
"Houston: We Have A Problem...But No Worries, Our Virtual Therapist Is On It"

Space Trips To Change World For Better: Virgin Galactic CEO

NASA Exercises Authority to Proceed with Commercial Crew Contracts

Li pledges China will boost innovation, creativity

CLIMATE SCIENCE
China to launch new marine surveillance satellites in 2019

China Successfully Orbits Experimental Satellite

China's first space lab in operation for over 1000 days

China Exclusive: Mars: China's next goal?

CLIMATE SCIENCE
ISS Astronauts Wrap Up Preps for Wednesday Spacewalk

Progress-M Cargo Ship To Undock From ISS On Oct 27

A Different Kind of Green Movement: Seedling Growth in Space

ISS Spacewalkers Replace Power Regulator, Move Equipment

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Argentina launches geostationary satellite

Arianespace's December mission for DIRECTV-14 and GSAT-16 satellites in process

Inquiry reveals design stage shortcoming in Galileo navigation system

Soyuz Flight VS09 Report

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Getting To Know Super-Earths

Astronomers Spot Faraway Uranus-Like Planet

NASA's Hubble Maps the Temperature and Water Vapor on an Extreme Exoplanet

Hubble project maps temperature, water vapor on wild exoplanet

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Engineers find a way to win in laser performance by losing

Unstoppable magnetoresistance

Sticky business: bonding ultrastable space missions

Tailored flexible illusion coatings hide objects from detection




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.