Scientific evidence has time and again pointed out that global warming is leading to a rise in sea levels. A new study has added to this by noting that this rise in sea levels all around the world is accelerating, which means that the global sea levels are rising faster every year and not consistently year after year.
Rising sea levels are affecting several ecosystems simultaneously. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Since 1990, the sea levels have been rising at an average of 3mm per year. The study tried to weigh in on the debate of whether this rise has been consistent or accelerating every year. Tadea Veng, a student of Earth and Space Physics and Engineering at DTU Space made the calculations using the data from independent European satellites and comparing the same with data from American satellites. The paper confirms the data from both to be the same. [1]
“In recent years, there’s been a good deal of debate about the acceleration due to inaccuracies in the satellite measurements from Topex/Poseidon, the oldest of the US satellites. That’s why it’s important that we now also have results using data from European satellites. Acceleration is an important factor in modeling future sea-level rise,” says Professor Ole Baltazar Andersen, who co-authored the article.
As per the American data, the rate of acceleration is 0.084 mm/year2. What sets the European satellite data apart from the American data used by the UN Climate Panel is that the former also measures the levels of the Arctic Ocean. The author has also presented this research at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting last December.
The paper has been published in the Advances in Space Research journal. [2]
