Sea Level Rise

Description:

There are many questions surrounding climate change. One big question is how the changing climate will affect the oceans. The sea level has been steadily rising since 1900 at a rate of 1 to 2.5 millimeters per year. In fact, since 1992 new methods of satellite altimetry using the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite indicate a rate of rise of 3 millimeters per year. The Third Assessment Report (TAR) from the IPCC does not consider this a significant acceleration, stating, "No significant acceleration in the rate of sea level rise during the 20th century has been detected." - IPCC TAR. Sea level can rise by two different mechanisms with respect to climate change. The first is the expansion of the sea water as the oceans warm due to an increasing global temperature. The second mechanism is the melting of ice over land, which then adds water to the ocean. The IPCC TAR predicts that total global-average sea level rise from 1990 - 2100 will be 110 to 770 millimeters (.77m).

6m Sea Level Rise (1 mb)

There are two Science On a Sphere datasets that demonstrate rising sea levels and show the changes in the Earth's appearance as the sea levels rise. The first dataset starts with sea level 150 meters below its present level. The areas that appear white are land that would be uncovered if the sea level was below the current level. The animation proceeds in 10 meter increments, increasing up to 80 meters above the current sea level. Current land masses that would be covered by the rising sea level are shaded black. The National Snow and Ice Data Center predicts that if both Antarctica and Greenland, the world's largest ice sheets, both melted completely, the sea level would rise more than 70 meters. The second dataset shows the sea level rising meter by meter from current sea level up to 6 meters above sea level. The land that would be covered by water is shaded red to show the drastic decrease in land as the waters rise. The same dataset is also available with black shading for land covered by water.

Notable Features:150m below to 80m above Sea Level

Land shaded white is currently covered with water, land shaded black would be covered by water if sea levels rose
Many islands connected when sea level is below current level
The interior of the Amazon fills

6m Rise in Sea Level

Shading in either red or black represents land that would be covered by rising sea levels
Much of the eastern United States disappears when levels rise above current level

Data Category

Major: Ocean

Keywords:

Ocean, sea level, climate change

Data Set Name	sea_level
Data Set Source	Science Museum of Minnesota
Data Set Developer	Science Museum of Minnesota
Visualization Developer	Science Museum of Minnesota
Audio	No
Contact	Science Museum of Minnesota
Downlaod	FTP

Data Set Name	6m_sea_level_rise/red 6m_sea_level_rise/black
Data Set Source	John C. Kostelnick, College of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Haskell Indian Nations University
Data Set Developer	John C. Kostelnick, College of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Haskell Indian Nations University
Visualization Developer	NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Audio	No
Contact	NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Downlaod	FTP