Global sea levels rose a whopping 125 feet after the last ice age

live science ^ | 03 21 2025 | Skyler Ware

[yesthatjallen]

Samples drilled from deep beneath the sea have revealed just how much global sea levels changed following the last ice age.

Melting ice caps in North America, Antarctica and Europe caused sea levels to rise quickly as temperatures warmed after the last ice age. But researchers have lacked robust geological data from this period, so how much sea levels climbed was unknown.

Now, new geological data show that sea levels rose about 125 feet (38 meters) between 11,000 and 3,000 years ago, according to a study published March 19 in the journal Nature. The findings could help scientists and policymakers understand what to expect as today's ice sheets respond to a warming climate.

In pursuit of these records, an international team of scientists turned to a relatively shallow area of the North Sea covering "Doggerland," the land bridge that connected the U.K. to mainland Europe until about 7000 years ago. The researchers drilled samples of peat, or partially decomposed plant matter, from beneath the sea.

Doggerland was home to coastal marshlands during the ice age, but rising waters and marine sediments submerged and compressed the marshes as sea levels rose. The team analyzed the different elements and types of microalgae in the peat to work out how sea levels changed.

SNIP

[linMcHlp]

Standing on the beach at the edge of the ocean, and looking out to sea, I was looking up hill - clearly the ocean was rising.

Non?

[Ditto]

Yes they roamed the land and were preyed on by Mercury Cougars!

Had one of those Cougars years ago. Looked cool, but a completely rotten worthless beast. ;~[.

[A Navy Vet]

"why so much ice at the South Pole, and less at the North?"

IIRC, the South Pole has higher elevation due to it sitting on the land mass Antarctica. The North Pole is a sheet of ice floating on the Arctic Ocean. It's a matter of Elevation and Topography.