There is dispute as to the amount of increase in sea levels as a number of factors complicate things but it is very likely less than 2ml/ year and some papers have it at 0.9ml/ year. But what causes it?
Melting sea ice does not cause it because sea ice already displaces its weight of water. Melting changes nothing–beside the fact sea ice amount is within long-term averages.
Contrary to media hype, the continental ice sheets over Greenland and Antarctica are not melting and have actually gained mass in recent years.
It has been thought that thermal expansion in warming oceans could have caused some of the rise but some recent work casts doubt on that and besides the oceans have not warmed in recent years.
Melting mountain glaciers cannot contribute enough meltwater to cause much rise. Most of the melt from the end of the last glaciation has already happened.
Sea levels will always rise even with perfectly stable temps and will continue to do so until significant cooling starts to lock-up water in glaciers-mountain and continental. Why?
One reason is biota. As living things grow and die they become part of the seafloor sediment and are replaced by progeny.
Another reason is the vast number of underwater volcanoes and vents that pump out magma and ash and minerals to the seafloor.
Another is the constant sediment washed into the oceans via rivers and streams and landslides and seaside erosion and dust blown from landmasses.
Sea level rise is a constant natural phenomenon and natural warming of a degree or two contributes next to nothing. Even in summer the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets are far below the melting point.
Well Jan,
As an old guy I don’t have much to gain from an agenda. What the future holds for me is a steady decline in robustness until it’s all over unless a sudden health issue or disease hastens the process.
My motive? I’d like to see western societies avoid a very unpalatable result. That’s all.
Canada’s most articulate commentator says it well in this article:
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/murphy-beware-the-green-new-trojan-hors…
— Gore directed all funding to ensure that the climate change agenda became a top priority for the United States Government. Gore created the President’s Council on Sustainable Development. The Charter was revised on April 25, 1997, and the “Scope of Activities” was dramatically altered. Gore directed that the agenda was to be EXCLUSIVELY a global warming agenda to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He claimed there would be NO DEBATE regarding the science behind the new agenda. Gore deliberately silenced all opposition.—
To pull off the new agenda, Gore’s strategy set out to purge the government of anyone who disagreed or opposed his agenda in any way. He instilled, not the fear of God, but the fear of Gore throughout the high-ranking government officials in the agencies that included the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, Department of Education, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Their funding would be cut unless they adopted Gore’s agenda.
When physicist Dr. William Happer, who was the Director of Energy Research at the Department of Energy, testified before Congress in 1993 in disagreement with Al Gore, he was instantly fired. Harper would later comment: “I had the privilege of being fired by Al Gore since I refused to go along with his alarmism. I did not need the job that badly.”—
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/02/martin-armstrong/al-gores-global-war…
Yep just scrolling past certain posts works a treat.
I feel that this Calvin & Hobbes strip is nicely relevant to the state of this comment stream. Not quite sure who of us plays what role, however.
https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1987/01/18/
The older I get, the more relevant and poignant Calvin and Hobbes becomes.
If Rex Murphy and the National Post are your regular reading choices then that completely explains you and your perspectives. Mr. Pointy Head, paid political journalist and former CBC show host… yep, very credible source of info lol.
All you are doing at this point is serving up more evidence that you have not yet grasped the gist of commenting and debate on this site. You might want to give it a rest and ponder what you are trying to accomplish here.
Jan