Watch: NASA data reveals seas rising more than predicted

Sea levels worldwide are rising faster than predicted as a result of climate change, according to NASA scientists.

Credits: NASA/Saskia Madlener

Washington: Sea levels worldwide are rising faster than predicted as a result of climate change, NASA scientists said on Wednesday.

According to the latest satellite measurements from NASA and its partners, seas around the world have risen an average of nearly 3 inches since 1992, with some locations rising more than 9 inches due to natural variation.

What's more worrying is that scientists saw an unavoidable sea level rise of at least several feet is coming.

At a news conference Wednesday (August 26), NASA officials described a new computer visualization of sea level change incorporating data collected by satellites since 1992, which reveals changes are anything but uniform around the globe.

This video by NASA tells us about the causes of sea level rise and how sea level has changed over the last two decades as observed by the Jason series of satellite missions.

Rising seas will have 'profound impacts' around the world, said Michael Freilich, director of NASA's Earth Science Division.

In 2013, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued an assessment based on a consensus of international researchers that stated global sea levels would likely rise from 1 to 3 feet by the end of the century.

“Sea level along the west coast of the United States has actually fallen over the past 20 years because long-term natural cycles there are hiding the impact of global warming,” said Josh Willis, an oceanographer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).”

“However, there are signs this pattern is changing. We can expect accelerated rates of sea level rise along this coast over the next decade as the region recovers from its temporary sea level ‘deficit.”

NASA data also reveals that ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are melting faster than ever, and oceans are warming and expanding much more rapidly than they have in years past.

(Source: NASA)

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