Using fossils to track sea levels over the past 2,100 years, scientists from Pennsylvania University say seas are rising faster than at any other point in that span. Comparing those results to changes in world surface temperature yielded the culprit.
"Sea-level rise is a potentially disastrous outcome of climate change, as rising temperatures melt land-based ice and warm ocean waters," said Professor Benjamin Horton, director of the university´s Sea Level Research Laboratory.
The study detected a 2 millimeter rise in sea levels each year, which backs up a 2009 estimate by the laboratory that sea levels will rise between 75 and 190 centimeters between 1990 and 2100.
