Nasa: Nothing can stop sea level rise

27 สิงหาคม 2558

Attention Bangkokians: Nasa scientists say rising sea levels are "unavoidable" as ice sheets and glaciers melt. The unanswered questions are how high high and how fast.

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NASA's DC-8 flies over the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica October 26, 2010 in this handout photo provided by NASA, March 26, 2015. Satellite observations from 1994 to 2012 reveal an accelerating decline in Antarctica's massive floating ice shelves, with some shrinking by 18 percent, in a development that could hasten the rise in global sea levels, scientists say. NASA/handout via Reuters

Nasa: Sea level rise 'unavoidable

MIAMI, AFP – The latest data on sea level rise from global warming suggests that one meter or more is unavoidable in the next 100-200 years, Nasa scientists said Wednesday.

According to Nasa's sea level rise team, it's pretty certain we are locked into at least one meter of sea level rise, and probably more, however it is not clear when this will occur

Much uncertainty remains in the predictions – particularly with regard to timing – because scientists do not know how fast major polar ice sheets will melt.

But a wealth of data in the past few years from satellite instruments shows that oceans are swelling much faster than they have in years' past.

"Given what we know now about how the ocean expands as it warms and how ice sheets and glaciers are adding water to the seas, it's pretty certain we are locked into at least one meter of sea level rise, and probably more," said Steve Nerem of the University of Colorado, Boulder and leader of Nasas sea level rise team.

"But we don't know whether it will happen within a century or somewhat longer."

The last major predictions were made in 2013 by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Based on a consensus of international researchers, the IPCC said global sea levels would likely rise from one to three feet by the end of the century.

Nerem said new satellite data suggests the higher end of that range is more likely.

Scientists are particularly focused on the Greenland ice sheet, which shed an average of 303 gigatons of ice a year over the past decade.

Also, the Antarctic ice sheet has lost an average of 118 gigatons a year.

But scientists have never seen an ice sheet collapse, so the question of when sea levels will rise drastically is a major mystery.

The world's oceans have risen an average of almost 7.6 cm since 1992, with some locations rising more than 23 cm due to natural variation, Nasa said.