Sea's Rise May Prove the Greater in Northeast

Submitted by hlowengard on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 21:40.

Start: 12/31/1969 - 20:33

Timezone: Etc/GMT-4

Story Link:

Source:

NY Times,

Pub Date:

27 May 2009

Category:

National

Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, in Boulder,

CO have just published a new study adding to the concern about rising

sea levels in the Northeast. Published in Geophysical Research Letters,

the study closely examined runoff data from Greenland and ocean

circulation patterns. The scientists came to the conclusion that if

Greenland melting continues to accelerate, it would alter ocean currents

in a way that sends warmer water toward the northeastern and Maritime

coasts. Because water expands as it warms, this influx of warmer water

would raise sea levels as much as a foot or two more in the northeast

than in other coastal regions by 2100. This report comes two weeks after

other researchers predicted that climate-related ice shifts at the South

Pole would raise sea levels on the east and west coasts of North America

by yet an additional 1.5 feet. These predictions, if they occur, would

be on top of the one to two feet of sea level rise predicted globally by

2100 by the IPCC. That prediction comes from the IPCC 2007 report did

not address the question of melting glaciers and ice sheets because the

process is so hard to forecast