sea level

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

In Latest Climate Report, a 'Warning to Humanity'

Earth hit threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius over an entire year, with hottest January on record

(Newser) - World leaders walked away from the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference with the aim to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. We've now hit that threshold over a yearlong period, European climate monitors announced Thursday. February...

Growing Threat to Sea Levels: 'Zombie Ice'
Growing Threat to Sea Levels:
'Zombie Ice'
new study

Growing Threat to Sea Levels: 'Zombie Ice'

Melting Greenland ice sheet expected to lose 3% of its mass, no matter what

(Newser) - "Zombie ice" from the massive Greenland ice sheet will eventually raise the global sea level by at least 10 inches on its own, according to a study released Monday. Zombie (aka doomed) ice is ice that's still attached to thicker areas of ice but is no longer getting...

'Make No Mistake: Sea Level Rise Is Upon Us'

NOAA releases report detailing the acceleration

(Newser) - America's coastline will see sea levels rise in the next 30 years by as much as they did in the entire 20th century, with major Eastern cities hit regularly with costly floods even on sunny days, a government report warns. Brace yourself for some jarring numbers, which come compliments...

Another SE Asian Nation May Be Moving Its Capital

Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is considering such a switch to provide relief to overcrowded Bangkok

(Newser) - Bangkok is beset by a slew of issues tied to overcrowding, including pollution, traffic congestion, and even sea level rise. That's led Thailand's prime minister to consider a drastic solution: moving the capital elsewhere. The two options that seem the most feasible in Prayut Chan-o-cha's mind, per...

Over 3 Days, 29B Tons of Ice Melted Here

Greenland is experiencing near-record melting of surface ice

(Newser) - Forget about ice skating in Greenland: The island nation's surface ice is melting at a nearly record rate as Europe's heat wave moves into the Arctic, CNN reports. And by melting, we mean 11 billion tons on Thursday alone; 11 billion tons on Wednesday, per the CBC ; and...

Greenland Villagers Flee as Giant Iceberg Approaches

The giant hunk of ice could cause flooding as it approaches the town of Innaarsuit

(Newser) - A huge iceberg heading for a tiny Greenland town has sent villagers fleeing. Per Newsweek , the berg is so big it found itself lodged on the sea floor just beside the town of Innaarsuit, where the around 170 residents fear flooding could occur as chunks fall into the sea. The...

Giant Antarctic Ice 'Cork' Is Deteriorating

Scientists prepping for $27.5M study of Thwaites Glacier, how sea level rise will be affected

(Newser) - An Antarctic glacier is losing so much ice that it contributed to about 4% of the planet's total sea level rise in recent years—and scientists are now concerned this rapid melting could remove one of the few "corks" keeping the West Antarctic Ice Sheet at bay. That'...

Rise in Sea Levels Turning Coastland Into 'Ghost Forests'

'It's dramatic and it's changing faster than it has before in human history'

(Newser) - They're called "ghost forests"—dead trees along vast swaths of coastline invaded by rising seas. The process has occurred naturally for thousands of years, but it has accelerated in recent decades as polar ice melts and raises sea levels, scientists say, pushing salt water farther inland and...

Ancient Rome's Concrete Had Super Ingredient: Seawater

Seawalls are actually stronger today than when they were built

(Newser) - What's so special about ancient Rome's concrete? Well, it just might be "the most durable building material in human history," as one engineer puts it, per the Washington Post . A new study in American Mineralogist sheds further light onto why: Romans mixed a specific volcanic ash...

Alaskan Villagers Decide to Move Village as Sea Rises

Shishmaref is slowly slipping away

(Newser) - In what was far from an easy decision, residents of a small island village in Alaska voted this week to relocate their home to the mainland, the Guardian reports. The reason? Rising sea levels have been eroding the village of Shishmaref for decades. "The land is going away,"...

Study Shows Clouds Are Bad News for Greenland Ice Sheet

'This is something we have to get right if we want to predict the future'

(Newser) - There's a literal cloud hanging over the rapidly melting Greenland ice sheet. That's because a new study published Tuesday in Nature Communications reveals exactly how clouds are exacerbating the problem. Cloud cover over the ice sheet causes 56 billion tons of meltwater runoff every year, up to a...

Why the World Should Be Worried About Bangladesh
Why the World Should Be Worried About Bangladesh
in case you missed it

Why the World Should Be Worried About Bangladesh

Poor nation will be amongst those hardest hit by climate change

(Newser) - Bangladesh only produces 0.3% of the world's greenhouse gases. But few nations are poised to suffer more as sea levels rise due to climate change, the New York Times points out, in an in-depth piece on the nation's plight. The country is extremely flat, low, prone to...

Big Find Under Greenland's Snow: 100B Tons of Water

Snow insulates it, keeping it liquid year-round, say researchers

(Newser) - As far as discoveries go, this one is literally huge: An aquifer holding more than 100 billion tons of water that covers an area larger than West Virginia has been discovered beneath Greenland's snow-covered ice sheet. And it caught the researchers who stumbled on it in 2011 off-guard, with...

Scientists Now 95% Sure Climate Change Is Our Fault

And say sea could rise 3 feet by end of century, according to leaked IPCC report

(Newser) - OK, we did it. A new UN report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found "it is extremely likely that human influence on climate caused more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010." That "extremely likely" is...

Key West Could Be Underwater by 2113

Florida Keys prepare for sea level rise

(Newser) - According to federal flood-planning directives, the ground floor of the Stock Island fire station in the Florida Keys should be built up 9 feet. Instead, county authorities went a foot and a half beyond that—just in case. Nearby parks, roads, and bridges also may be elevated. The sea level...

Polar Ice Sheets Melting Faster
 Polar Ice Sheets Melting Faster 
Huge study

Polar Ice Sheets Melting Faster

Process to blame for a fifth of sea-level rise

(Newser) - The most expansive study yet is helping to clarify long-held uncertainties about polar ice. The melting of polar ice sheets has sped up since 1992, raising sea levels 0.43 inches—a fifth of their total rise since then. And while the melting ice sheets accounted for 10% of the...

Islands to Be Built in India ... and Towed to Maldives

Dutch design features private islands, golf course with underwater club

(Newser) - Many of the islands that comprise the Maldives could soon be submerged—so replacements are under way. A Dutch firm is designing artificial islands to join some 1,192 islands that sit an average of five feet above sea level, making the Maldives the world's lowest country. Now, the...

Sea Levels Rising Way Faster Than We Thought

National Research Council revamps earlier estimates

(Newser) - Living near a coastline? Sea levels are expected to rise by up to 55 inches worldwide over the next century, according to a study that radically reinterprets the results of climate change. The US National Research Council study, released yesterday, concludes that sea levels will increase 20 to 55 inches...

Venice Sinking Again, Slowly
 Venice Sinking Again, Slowly 

Venice Sinking Again, Slowly

Satellite measurements show it tilting slightly to the east as well

(Newser) - Venice is sinking once again, according to new satellite readings. The famous canal-ridden city sank significantly last century thanks to underground water extraction, but once that practice stopped, data from the early 2000s indicated that the city had stabilized. But now a team of US and Italian researchers has concluded...

Sea Level Rise Doubles Risk of Catastrophic US Flood

Three reports say rising seas endanger continental US

(Newser) - Coastal states are now twice as likely to experience a so-called once-in-a-century flood by 2030, thanks to a global warming-fueled rise in sea levels, according to a trio of reports released today. Census data shows 5 million people are in the danger zone, particularly in cities, where many people live...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>
Most Read on Newser