Sea levels rising at fastest rate in 2,000 years

Nick Collins -

Scientists used fossils to reconstruct sea levels over the past two millenia on the US Atlantic coast and found they are now rising faster than at any time in the past 2,100 years.

By comparing the results to changes in global surface temperature, experts established a consistent link between higher temperatures and rising tides.

Professor Benjamin Horton, director of the Sea Level Research Laboratory at Pennsylvania University, said: “Sea-level rise is a potentially disastrous outcome of climate change, as rising temperatures melt land-based ice and warm ocean waters.”

To accurately reconstruct sea levels, an international team of researchers examined layers of sediment from marshes in North Carolina to find remains of foraminifera, tiny plankton-like creatures.

Because different species of foraminifera live at different depths, their remains indicated how deep the ocean was when the layer of sediment they were found in was laid down.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the sea level remained fairly stable between 200BC until 1,000AD.

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