sea level rise and disappearing islands: myth or reality?

Sea level rise and disappearing islands:myth or reality?

• How fast are sea levels rising?

• How are sea levels measured?

• Which islands are most affected?Source: Wikipedia Commons, 2006

Photograph by Shahee Ilyas


Source: Wikipedia Commons, 2006Photograph by Shahee Ilyas



• Which islands are most affected?

How fast are sea levels rising?

Source: UNEP/GRID-Arendal, 2007UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library

Sources of sea level rise

Source: IPCC, 2007Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Trends in sea level rise

Source: IPCC, 2007

Projections of the future




Photo: New Scientist, 2007

‘The near coincidence of the ice acceleration with the duration of surface melting, followed by deceleration after the melting ceases, indicates that glacial sliding is enhanced by rapid migration of surface meltwater to the ice-bedrock interface.’

Zwally et al., 2002. Surface Melt–Induced Acceleration of Greenland Ice-Sheet Flow. Science, 297: 218-222.


Source: UNEP, 2007State-and-trends of the environment: 1987-2007

GEO-4 Report

Trends in sea level rise

Source: IPCC, 2007

Long-term trends in sea levels

Source: Global Warming Art Project, 2005Fleming et al., 1998. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 163 (1-4): 327-342.Milne et al., 2005. Quaternary Science Reviews 24 (10-11): 1183-1202.

Long-term trends in sea levels

Source: Holzer, 2002Lecture notes for ‘Biology 1510’ unit, Georgia Institute of Technology

Source: Milne, 2003Reproduced in the book Underworld by Graham Hancock

Regional variation in sea level rise



Tide gauges

Photo: Australian National Tidal Centre, 2006

Sea level Fine Resolution Acoustic Monitoring Equipment

SEAFRAME:

Tide gauges



Satellite altimetry

Image: EUMETSAT, 2008

Ocean altimetry missions:

• TOPEX / Poseidon: 1992 - 2005

• Jason-1: 2001 - present

• Jason-2: Provisional launch date June 2008

Short animation of the Jason-2 satellite in action:EUMETSAT Multimedia Gallery

Source: EUMETSAT, 2008

http://www.eumetsat.int/Home/Main/Media/MultimediaGallery/groups/cps/documents/multimedia/gal_vid_jason_scan_sd.mov

TOPEX / Poseidon data

Source: AVISO, 2008

TOPEX / Poseidon data

Source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2008

Source: Cartoonstock.com, 2002

Cartoon by Dave Allen

Image: NGDC, 2006

Tuvalu

Source: Juriaanbooij.com, 2007 Photograph by Juriaan Booij

Source: Worldviewofglobalwarming.org, 2005

Photographs by Gary Braasch

SingaporeTuvalu

Image: NGDC, 2006

Source: Picturecorrect.com, 2007

Photograph by David Cheong




• Which islands are most affected?Source: Wikipedia Commons, 2006

Photograph by Shahee Ilyas

ReferencesAUSTRALIAN NATIONAL TIDAL CENTRE, 2006. Pacific country report on sea level and climate: Their present state. Tuvalu, June 2006 [online]. Available at: http://www.bom.gov.au/ntc/IDO60033/IDO60033.2006.pdf [Accessed 17 April 2008].

BBC, 2007. Measuring sea level rise from space [online]. BBC, 31 July. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6922312.stm [Accessed 17 April 2008].

BBC, 2008. The ebb and flow of seal level rise [online]. BBC, 22 January. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7195752.stm [Accessed 12 April 2008].

EUMETSAT, 2008. Jason-2 Launch Diary [online]. Available at: http://www.eumetsat.int/Home/Main/Media/MultimediaGallery/index.htm?l=en [Accessed 17 April 2008].

ESA, 2006. Radar altimetry tutorial [online]. Available at: http://earth.esa.int/brat/index.html [Accessed 17 April 2008].

GARY BRAASCH, 2005. World view of global warming: Rising sea levels [online]. Photographs by Gary Braasch. Available at: http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/pages/rising-seas.html [Accessed 17 April 2008].

IPCC, 2007. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

JURIAAN BOOIJ, 2007. The Sinking Of Tuvalu [online]. Photograph by Juriaan Booij. Available at: http://www.juriaanbooij.com/ [Accessed 17 April 2008].

NATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL DATA CENTRE (NGDC), 2006. Surface of the Earth [online]. Available at: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/2minsurface/1350/ [Accessed 17 April 2008].

NEW SCIENTIST, 2002. Warming speeds ice sheet flow in weeks. New Scientist, 7 June.

PICTURECORRECT.COM, 2007. Reflections of the Central Business District [online]. Photograph by David Cheong. Available at: http://www.picturecorrect.com/wallpaper/singapore/singapore_1024x768.htm [Accessed 17 April 2008].

ROBERT ROHDE, 2005. Post-glacial sea level rise [online]. Global Warming Art Project. Available at: http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Sea_Level_Gallery [Accessed 16 April 2008].

UNEP/GRID-Arendal, 2007. Trends in sea level, 1870-2006 [online]. UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library. Available at: http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/trends-in-sea-level-1870-2006 [Accessed 17 April 2008].

WIKIPEDIA COMMONS, 2006. Malé, capital of Maldives [online]. Photograph by Shahee Ilyas. Available at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Male-total.jpg [Accessed 17 April 2008].

ZWALLY, H.J., ABDALATI, W., HERRING, T., LARSON, K., SABA, J., STEFFEN, K., 2002. Surface Melt–Induced Acceleration of Greenland Ice-Sheet Flow. Science, 297, pp. 218-222.

sea level rise and disappearing islands: myth or reality?

Documents

sea levels source

measuring sea level

future source

tuvalu source

rising sea levelsonline

disappearing islands

tide gauges source

topex poseidon data