NASA study shows unexpected ocean level increase
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A weather station on the shoreline at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, in 2019, is protected from storm surge by natural and manmade dunes. (File photo credit: Paul Brinkmann/UPI)
March 13 (UPI) -- The world's sea levels grew far more quickly and by a larger amount than anticipated in 2024, mostly due to warming water temperatures, a new NASA analysis shows.
The data show that the ocean levels grew by an expansion rate of .23 inches last year, more than the expected .17 inches, the study reported.
"Every year is a little bit different, but what's clear is that the ocean continues to rise, and the rate of rise is getting faster and faster," Josh Willis, a sea level researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said in a release from NASA.
The study said that historically, roughly two-thirds of sea level rise was the result of melting ice sheets and glaciers as well as the addition of water flowing into the oceans from land. It said a third came from what is known as thermal expansion.
"The warming of Earth is primarily due to accumulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, and more than 90 percent of this trapped heat is absorbed by the oceans. As this heat is absorbed, ocean temperatures rise and water expands," NASA said.
But in recent years, the study said that ratio has flipped, and now two-thirds of the sea level rise is the result of thermal expansion and one-third from the other factors.
Rising sea levels concern scientists because more volatile climate patterns and higher oceans can usher powerful and damaging storm surges further inland, eroding coastlines and disrupting ecosystems, according to the National Weather Service.
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