Why Seas Are Rising Ahead of Predictions: Estimates of Rate of Future Sea-Level Rise May Be Too Low

[littlemissmartypants]

Past and possible future changes in sea level. (Credit: Map by Emanuel Soeding, Christian-Albrechts University, using NOAA data)

ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2012) — Sea levels are rising faster than expected from global warming, and University of Colorado geologist Bill Hay has a good idea why. The last official IPCC report in 2007 projected a global sea level rise between 0.2 and 0.5 meters by the year 2100. But current sea-level rise measurements meet or exceed the high end of that range and suggest a rise of one meter or more by the end of the century. "What's missing from the models used to forecast sea-level rise are critical feedbacks that speed everything up," says Hay. He will be presenting some of these feedbacks in a talk on Nov. 4, at the meeting of The Geological Society of America in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.

One of those feedbacks involves Arctic sea ice, another the Greenland ice cap, and another soil moisture and groundwater mining.
"There is an Arctic sea ice connection," says Hay, despite the fact that melting sea ice -- which is already in the ocean -- does not itself raise sea level. Instead, it plays a role in the overall warming of the Arctic, which leads to ice losses in nearby Greenland and northern Canada. When sea ice melts, Hay explains, there is an oceanographic effect of releasing more fresh water from the Arctic, which is then replaced by inflows of brinier, warmer water from the south.

"So it's a big heat pump that brings heat to the Arctic," says Hay. "That's not in any of the models." That warmer water pushes the Arctic toward more ice-free waters, which absorb sunlight rather than reflect it back into space like sea ice does. The more open water there is, the more heat is trapped in the Arctic waters, and the warmer things can get....

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121101153549.htm


http://www.geosociety.org/news/pr/12-82.htm


http://geosociety.org/meetings/2012/

[ROBROX]

1. IMPROVED SCIENCE IS THE BEST SCIENCE

This one fact of improving a known model will be another nail in the coffin of the FLAT EARTH SOCIETY MEMBERS or GOP. I know that to much fresh water in any ocean will chain the oceans currents and may lead to the Atlantic's currents changing or stopping. Then Europe has the big weather change and those east coast wonders. The west coast has a cold current coming from alaska which may help in th hot summers. The jet stream is already going north which means hot dry summers for the west coast and who knows how bad for those farther east.

[Ganja Ninja]

2. I saw something the other day that said ...

They are now predicting a 2 ft rise by 2050 and a 4 to 6 ft rise by 2100. I think it was on TV during a discussion of the damage from Sandy.