The Other Side Of The Story

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Basic Geology Part 3 - Sea Level Rises During Interglacial Periods

Guest post by Steven Goddard

One of the most cited “proofs” of global warming is that sea level is rising, as can be seen in the graph below.


http://sealevel.colorado.edu/current/sl_noib_global_sm.jpg

This is a nonsensical argument, because sea level would be rising even if temperatures were going down, as they have been since 2002. The main reason why sea level rises is because the equilibrium between glacial ice and temperature is out of balance, and has been for the last 20,000 years.


http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Post-Glacial_Sea_Level_png

Note that from 15,000 years ago to 8,000 years ago, sea level rose about 14mm/year - which is more than four times faster than the current rise rate of 3.3mm/year, as reported by the University of Colorado. During the last ice age, sea level was so low that people were able to walk from Siberia to Alaska across the Bering Strait. One of the more stunning pieces of evidence of this is the remarkable similarity of appearance and culture between the indigenous peoples of Eastern Siberia and North America.
In 2002, the BBC reported that a submerged city was found off the coast of India, 36 meters below sea level. This was long before the Hummer or coal fired power plant was invented. It is quite likely that low lying coastal areas will continue to get submerged, just as they have been for the last 20,000 years. During the last ice age, thick glaciers covered all of Canada and several states in the US, as well as all of Northern Europe. As that ice melts, the water flows into the ocean and raises sea level


http://uk.encarta.msn.com/media_461527006/ice_extent_during_the_last_ice_age.html

The IPCC has stated that sea level may rise two meters this century, which would be a rate of 22mm/year, nearly seven times faster than current rates. Do we see such an acceleration? The simple answer is no. There has been very little change in sea level rise rates over the last 100 years, certainly nothing close to the immediate 7X acceleration which would be required to hit 2 meters.


http://www.globalwarmingart.com/images/thumb/0/0f/Recent_Sea_Level_Rise.png/700px-Recent_Sea_Level_Rise.png

Sea level is rising, and the abuse of this information is one of the most flagrantly clueless mantras of the alarmist community.

Even if we returned to a green utopian age, sea level would continue to rise at about the same rate - just as has done since the last glacial maximum.

-The end-