"Something unexpected and potentially irreversible is changing #Antarctica and scientists finally know why.
Over the past few decades, researchers have tracked the mysterious growth and sharp decline in sea ice in Antarctica."
The terrible thing is: all climate models have underestimated the sea level rise because they don't expect this recent drastic reduction of ice sheet of the south pole. 😨
Sea levels around Africa are rising faster than the global average: What's behind this alarming trend https://phys.org/news/2026-03-sea-africa-faster-global-average.html
For over three decades, satellites orbiting Earth have measured the height of the ocean surface with remarkable precision. These measurements are crucial because changes in ocean height are one of the clearest indicators of how our planet is responding to climate change. Rising ocean surfaces signal warming temperatures, melting ice, and shifting ocean currents.
Visual poetry: Footsteps and tyretracks (at about 03:20)
When the Shoulders Of Giants are too high, scientists overlook observations on the ground. In this case, satellite-derived gravity models and altimeters, and the computer simulations they got fed into, mis-measure and miscalculate coastal land elevation and sea level.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10196-1
The 2 sea level models most commonly used for hazard evaluation underestimate MOST local sea levels by one to several metres, the rest of the coasts are experiencing less than half a meter more than the models told us, and then there are regions where sea level is lower than in the common models. These regions are in the #Arctic and #Antarctic. And in the Mediterranean, go figure! (So yay, your coasts are higher than previously thought, dear Greece and Italy, but increasing destruction during flooding in winter storms makes up for this.)
This mis-informs policy makers and engineers wrt adaptation – and its funding. Money is especially relevant because the biggest under-estimate is in SE-Asia.
Interestingly, the North American #Atlantic coast shows zero discrepancy. But I reckon, this is due to the model used ( 🙈 ) for the comparison, and how this model has a completeness-bias toward the N-Am East Coast.
Whoops‼️Most sea level calculations are flawed, and our coastal population centers may be more screwed than thought…
“…more than 99% of the evaluated impact assessments handled sea-level and land elevation data inadequately, thereby misjudging sea level relative to coastal elevation. Based on our literature evaluation, 90% of the hazard assessments assume coastal sea levels based on geoid models, rather than using actual sea-level measurements. Our meta-analyses on global scale show that measured coastal sea level is higher than assumed in most hazard assessments…” #SeaLevel #Environment #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #CoastalLiving #migration
Tony 💉x10 🇦🇺
Dragofix
Rob Larter
Benjamin Carr, Ph.D. 👨🏻💻🧬
twirla
💧🌏 Greg Cocks
Manuel Gebauer
anlomedad
Pitchaya Sudbanthad
Charlie McHenry