How soon and how much will the oceans rise above present sea levels from global warming?

Answer 1

Not in 5 years time but scientists predict/give time frame 50-100 years for the 'real' global warming to show few dramatic sign from overheating. In addition, most experts agree that global warming is a reality and that it will bring further rises in sea levels.

In the last century the world heated up by 0.6C, according to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Sea levels rose by between 9 and 20cm and scientists predict further increases of 9 to 88cm by the year 2100.

The South Asian country of Bangladesh stands to be the worst affected. It is situated in the low-lying Ganges River delta and is also one of the most densely populated countries on earth.
Char Bangla is one of thousands of islands in the mouths of the Ganges. The land comes and goes with the tides and seasons as the silt is washed away and deposited by the river and sea.

September is the month when the Arctic ice usually reaches a minimum. The new data shows that on 19 September, the area covered by ice fell to 5.35 million sq km (2.01 million sq miles), the lowest recorded since 1978, when satellite records became available; it is now 20% less than the 1978-2000 average.

For the first time, scientists should have a long-term, on-the-ground view of the changes taking place here. There is more roar as more icebergs crash into the ocean. Many more icebergs falling into the sea will cause two things to happen - the sea-level will rise and the injection of freshwater could disrupt the ocean currents, including the Gulf Stream. In 1996, Greenland was losing about 100 cubic km per year in mass from its ice sheet; by 2005, this had increased to about 220 cubic km.

What happens in this remote barren land has the potential to affect us all. There is so much ice here that if it all melted, sea levels globally would rise hugely - perhaps as much as 80m. Say goodbye to London, New York, Sydney, Bangkok, Rio... in fact, the majority of the world's major cities.

Answer 2

How much will they rise from global warming? None.

How much will they appear to rise due to poor land management? Lots.

The Pacific Island of Tuvalu claims global warming is sinking its island. However, during WWII the United States built an airstrip there to use it as a staging area for attacks in the far west Pacific. In building the airstrip they removed almost 1/3 of the island's mass. This, along with poor farming techniques, have led to high tide encroaching on more and more land (easier erosion of coastlines).

Melting Arctic ice will not raise sea levels (since ice cubes in your drink do not increase its volume because they float). Studies that show Greenland and Antarctic ice masses shrinking only focus on the outer edges of the glaciers (see Al Gore's movie). What the fail to recognize is that a) the ice mass is actually increasing as a whole due to more buildup at the center of the islands, and b) the breaking of a glacier is a natural process that has occurred since the beginning of time. How do you think icebergs got there?

Don't give in to anthropogenic global warming.

Answer 3

Predicting the effects of global warming is an extremely inexact science. The most advanced models, even just forecasting for the next 100 years show temperatures increasing anywhere from 1.5 degrees to 6 degrees Celsius.

Obviously a forecast about sea level rise from this data is going to be even more questionable, but the EPA (for the purposes of giving the public some information to go on) says that we can expect sea levels to increase 1 foot by 2050 and anywhere from 2-4 feet by 2100.

All in all...don't go buying coastal properties.

Answer 4

Go and see the movie an Inconvenient Truth, it will answer those questions and more! Basically though, in a nutshell the answer is variable and dependent on how we react to the problem of global warming. If we don't do anything, it could be as soon as 10 years!!

Answer 5

They already are. It's not just a conspiracy theory. There are islands that don't exist any more.