SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Rise in Sea Levels Projected
If Earth’s temperature rises as much as some scientists project, sea levels may increase by one foot or more in some areas in the next 50 years, scientists said last week. Using a computer model, German researchers examined the oceans’ response to a global temperature increase of about 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit over 50 years if current rates of carbon dioxide emissions continue.
Carbon dioxide is a so-called greenhouse gas because it can act like the glass windows of a greenhouse to trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere, increasing the planet’s temperature.
The German simulation looked only at how a warmer climate would affect the flow and volume of existing sea water, which expands as the temperature increases. The study did not include the greater melting of glaciers and polar ice sheets, which could be expected to push sea levels even higher.
In their study published in the journal Nature, scientists from Max Planck Meteorology Institute in Hamburg, West Germany, calculated the overall sea level rise because of thermal expansion would be 7.5 inches in 50 years.
