8–9 inchesGlobal mean sea level has risen about 8–9 inches (21–24 centimeters) since 1880, with about a third of that coming in just the last two and a half decades. The rising water level is mostly due to a combination of melt water from glaciers and ice sheets and thermal expansion of seawater as it warms.
about 8 inchesGlobal average sea level has risen by about 8 inches (about 21 cm) since 1900, with about 3 of those inches (about 7.5 cm) occurring since 1993.
about 6 to 8 inchesOver the past 100 years, global temperatures have risen about 1 degree C (1.8 degrees F), with sea level response to that warming totaling about 160 to 210 mm (with about half of that amount occurring since 1993), or about 6 to 8 inches.
0.14 inches per yearLong-term measurements of tide gauges and recent satellite data show that global sea level is rising, with the best estimate of the rate of global-average rise over the last decade being 3.6 mm per year (0.14 inches per year).
But now Earth's seas are rising. Globally, sea level has risen about eight inches since the beginning of the 20th century and more than two inches in the last 20 years alone.
Sea level along the U.S. coastline is projected to rise, on average, 10 - 12 inches (0.25 - 0.30 meters) in the next 30 years (2020 - 2050), which will be as much as the rise measured over the last 100 years (1920 - 2020).
It's been about an average of 15 cm of sea level rise for the entire ocean during the last 100 years.
What is the approximate rate of sea level rise between January 1993 and present? Note: The answer for this problem is directly stated at the top of the graph, 3.21 mm per year.
Yes. Earth's average surface air temperature has increased by about 1 °C (1.8 °F) since 1900, with over half of the increase occurring since the mid-1970s [Figure 1a].
Sea level has increased by more than 120 metres since the end of the last ice age. Sea level stabilised over the last few thousand years, and there was little change between about 1AD and 1800AD. Sea level began to rise again in the 19th century and accelerated again in the early 20th century.
Since 1971, the ocean has absorbed 90 percent of the excess heat added to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels and other human activities. The ocean's surface layer, home to most marine life, takes most of this heat. As a result, the top 700 meters (2,300 feet) of the global ocean has warmed about 1.5°F since 1901.
Sea level started rising in the late 1800s, soon after we started burning coal, gas and other fossil fuels for energy. When burned, these high-energy fuel sources send carbon dioxide up into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide absorbs heat from the sun and traps it, warming the atmosphere and the planet.