You are currently viewing the summary.
View Full TextLog in to view the full text
AAAS login provides access to Science for AAAS members, and access to other journals in the Science family to users who have purchased individual subscriptions.
More options
Download and print this article for your personal scholarly, research, and educational use.
Buy a single issue of Science for just $15 USD.
Summary
Over the past 10 years, sea levels have risen 4.8 millimeters per year on average—a rate much higher than the previous 2 decades. This increased rate, driven by greenhouse gas emissions and enhanced melt from Greenland ice, is known thanks to a series of radar satellites, operating since the early 1990s, that have used pulses of reflected radar to measure the ocean's height. The next satellite in this series, the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, is set for launch this week. While continuing this record, its higher resolution will allow measuring ocean height closer to the shore, which has long been an area of uncertainty. Although melt from the ice sheets will dominate the trend in sea level after 2100, this century the distribution of rising seas by winds and ocean currents will be deeply important in translating the global rise to local coastlines.
