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Global Ocean Level Increases Twice as Much as 150 Years Ago The culprit: global warming	By Tudor Raiciu, Technology and Science Editor 25th of November 2005, 09:30 GMT Adjust text size:


Rutgers researchers have made an announcement that should give the world's biggest polluters something to think about. According the their computations, global ocean levels are rising twice as fast today as they were 150 years ago, and human-induced warming appears to be the culprit. The statistic carried out by the research team shows that the global ocean levels are currently rising by 2 millimeters a year, compared to the 1 millimeter/year rate recorded 150 years ago. In an article published in the November 25 issue of the journal Science, Rutgers professor of geological sciences Kenneth G. Miller reports on a new record of sea level change during the past 100 million years, based on drilling studies along the New Jersey coast. The findings establish a steady millimeter-per-year rise from 5,000 years ago until about 200 years ago. "The main thing that's changed since the 19th century and the beginning of modern observation has been the widespread increase in fossil fuel use and more greenhouse gases", Miller said. The findings of Miller's team argue against some widely held tenets of geological science. Miller claims, for example, that ocean heights 100 million years ago and earlier were 150 to 200 meters lower than scientists had previously thought. Changes at these levels can only be caused by the Earth's crust shifting on the ocean floor. Miller's findings, therefore, imply less ocean-crust production than scientists had widely assumed. Another study carried out by Bern University researchers showed that the carbon dioxide levels today are 27% higher than they have been in the last 650,000 years and levels of methane, an even more powerful greenhouse gas, are now 130% up. In light of the new studies, perhaps it is time for the US to ratify the Kyoto Treaty.

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