For thousands of years, sea levels were relatively stable. But around 1850, when we began burning fossil fuels on a large scale, the oceans started to rise – and they haven’t stopped since (6,10,11,12).
The global sea level average has already risen 8-9 inches (21–24 cm) since 1880, and the pace is accelerating (6,7,13). What was once 1.7 mm per year in the early 1900s increased to 1.9 mm by 1961, 2.1 mm in 1993, 3.4 mm in 2016, and 4.5 mm per year in 2023. And it’s expected to rise even faster in the coming decades (6,7,14,15,16,17).
Higher seas mean more coastal flooding and greater risks for the billions of people living near coastlines (7).
So, what’s really driving sea level rise today? Find out in the post! 🌊
This post was made in collaboration between @ocean_networks and @scienceupfirst
Sources
- How Much Water is There on Earth? | U.S. Geological Survey | November 2019
- Just How Big Is the Ocean? | Smithsonian Ocean
- Ships bumping up sea levels claim doesn’t hold water » | AAP | June 2022
- Do ships have an effect on sea level? | ABC listen | August 2018
- Is sea level rising? | National Ocean Service – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | Updated June 2024
- Sea Level Rise | Smithsonian Ocean
- Climate Change: Global Sea Level | Climate.gov – Science & Information for a Climate-Smart Nation | August 2023
- Warming Seas and Melting Ice Sheets | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) | August 2015
- Sea Level | Vital Signs – Climate Change | NASA | Updated January 2025
- Scientific Consensus | NASA Science
- Sea level rise over past century unmatched in 6,000 years, says study | The Guardian | October 2014
- Sea level and global ice volumes from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene | PNAS | September 2014
- Climate Change Indicators: Sea Level | US EPA
- The rate of global sea level rise doubled during the past three decades | Nature – Communications Earth & Environment | October 2024
- Seas are now rising faster than they have in 2,800 years, scientists say | The Washington Post
- Temperature-driven global sea-level variability in the Common Era | PNAS | January 2016
- Sea-Level Rise from the Late 19th to the Early 21st Century | Surveys in Geophysics | March 2011
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