Posted on 02/08/2012 1:28:10 PM PST by grundle
The red line in this image shows the long-term increase in global sea level since satellite altimeters began measuring it in the early 1990s. Since then, sea level has risen by a little more than an inch each decade, or about 3 millimeters per year. While most years have recorded a rise in global sea level, the recent drop of nearly a quarter of an inch, or half a centimeter, is attributable to the switch from El Niño to La Niña conditions in the Pacific. The insets show sea level changes in the Pacific Ocean caused by the recent El Niño and La Niña (see http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/science/elninopdo for more information on these images). Image credit: S. Nerem, University of Colorado
Thats a little more sea water real estate for the Delta Smelt lil’ fishies.... the enviro-greenies should be thrilled.
Too bad for them that fish don’t vote!
I thought melting ice added water to the seas...ooops! Maybe our man-made global warming has created some trickster, evil ice process?
Don’t give him any ideas.
“where did the water go?”
Boiled off, on account of all the Global Warming going on.
WOW! Obama really did stop the oceans from rising!
Could be leaky drainplugs at the bottom of the oceans. Liberalism-made leaky drainplugs cause it. If you don't believe so, then you are a drainplug denier.
Now I know that Obama must be re-elected for another four year term! He is the hope man with which we can avoid climate change! (OMG. I’m out of breath!)
Just why in hell would you post this piece of garbage?
I’d certainly guess that Florida is sinking.
Well, I DID fill up my pool....
“is the ground risin’?”
Could be the whole planet is expanding:
http://xearththeory.com/
Great animations:
http://www.nealadams.com/nmu.html
Little off topic (earthquakes), but wow!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwWn_W6ZbT4&feature=related
I’d like to know how you can get a measurement THAT small on something so huge that’s always moving.
So shouldn’t this put an end to the “beachfront in Kansas” fearmongers?
Well, no wonder we here in Florida didn't see it in the Gulf or the Atlantic, it all happened in the Pacific.
Wonder what would happen if all the world's seas were connected?< /sarcasm >
This happens every time Rosie O'Donnell walks up onto the beach after a dip in the ocean.
3.2mm/year is like 1/8 of an inch! This is series!
Basically, you take lots and lots of measurements over time and average them. Factors such as season, lunar/planetary alignments, satellite orbital eccentricity, sea surface temperature, etc will also be accounted for in this process.
Given the surface area of the ocean, it is.
Since we haven’t had warming in 15 years and may be seeing a cooling, I wonder if the new ice age has started.
The Global Warming is worse than we thought. It’s so hot that the water from melted polar ice caps is evaporating!
We are DOOMED!
Actually, that is not the real question. Indeed that question is meaningless.
Satellite based sea level measurements are made with RADAR altimeters or LASER altimeters. The satellite instruments measure distance between the satellite and the sea surface (which is far from level). The satellite is in a known orbit, at a known distance from Earth's center of mass ... difference gives "sea level". The real data processing is somewhat more complex than that, but that's the basic theory of it.
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