Is global sea level rise further proof that global warming has not stopped?

Question

We've now established that there's no evidence that global warming has stopped.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsvgW.yxjm.fll_aeYxXNQfsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080821115551AArEuQz

One answerer in the question linked above claimed that decreasing sea levels are proof that the planet has stopped warming. However, his source indicates otherwise:

http://sealevel.colorado.edu/current/sl_ib_ns_global.jpg

As you can see, since 1994 the global sea level has increased 3.2 mm/yr. As a reference, over the past 2000 years the rate was approximately 0.1-0.2 mm/yr, and over the past 100 years was 1-2 mm/yr.

http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/425.htm

As the answerer noted, the two primary causes of sea level change are ocean temperatures (thermal expansion) and amount of land ice. Both are obviously related to global warming.

So considering the fact that sea levels continue to rise, is this not further proof that global warming continues?

Answer 1

Very strong evidence? Nonsense.  It is not evidence of anything but a continuation of a natural trend.  I don't know why it is that alarmists are so hard headed, they refuse to look at or understand science.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Post-...

Is there anything on the attached chart that you disagree with.  Do you think humans caused the rise 16,000 years ago, or the steady rise since 10,000 years ago.  Is there anything you believe that isn't alarmists?

Answer 2

This isn't one of the hardest to answer. Conceptual modeling takes you into the realm of ~a 1000yrs. So that really means, we don't have a clue. But by all means alert the naive by any means necessary.

Answer 3

The modest (.6deg.C) rise in temperature over the past 100 years is indicative of global warming, yes.  And because of it there is bound to be some glacial and land-ice melting, though not on a large scale obviously because the rise is minimal.

What needs to be recognized is that the temperature increase was a natural phenomenon.  The earth warms, and the earth cools all the time.  Sometimes gently, other times alarmingly.  Changes range from unnoticable to ice-age levels.  

Because of the natural events that cause these fluctuations, and considering that man is either not a partner or so minimal in any cause we should overlook and forget what's happened.  We have no responsibility for natural events, nor should we be acting to change them.

If sea levels have actually risen (some evidence also shows they haven't), it is only because of natural trends and is not proof of anything man-made.

I didn't open the second link because we all know that sealevels haven't risen enough to reach Colorado.

  

Answer 4

Personally, I think Dana should have linked to the AR4, since the discussion is a little clearer:  

http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/Report/AR4W...

(Discussion of sea level begins on p 408)

(see FAQ 5.1 on p 409 for decent summary)

And I hate to carp, but it's not proof, it's evidence.  Very strong evidence, but still only evidence.  

Edit:  Jim, you remind me of this:

http://opal.kent.ac.uk/cartoonx-cgi/ccc....

(for what it's worth, the Kent Univ. cartoon archive is a great thing to while away an hour or so bouncing around.  The collection of David Low is just phenomenal.)

Answer 5

You are kidding aren't you?

First link was to another Question.

Second link was just a graph with lines and squiggles

and the third link said this at the bottom.

There is no evidence for any acceleration of sea level rise in data from the 20th century data alone (Woodworth, 1990; Gornitz and Solow, 1991; Douglas, 1992). Mediterranean records show decelerations, and even decreases in sea level in the latter part of the 20th century, which may be caused by increases in the density of Mediterranean Deep Water and air pressure changes connected to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) (Tsimplis and Baker, 2000), suggesting the Mediterranean might not be the best area for monitoring secular trends. Models of ocean thermal expansion indicate an acceleration through the 20th century but when the model is subsampled at the locations of the tide gauges no significant acceleration can be detected because of the greater level of variability (Gregory et al., 2001). Thus the absence of an acceleration in the observations is not necessarily inconsistent with the model results.

Answer 6

Not to be too smug but I have to ask...... 'who was measuring sea levels 2000 years ago'?

Answer 7

No, I would say the satelite data is the most reliable evidence that global warming has stopped. It is much harder to tamper with than ground measurements.  

Answer 8

Population explosion has exceeded the capacity of most municpal infrastructures in the world and people are simply peeing in the ocean more.  

Answer 9

Wow you made a lot of bold assumptions... most of which aren't even correct.

1.  We haven't established that global warming continues... fact is the world is cooler now than it was 5 years ago.

2.  Decrease or increase in sea levels doesn't say anything about global warming.  Too many thing impact sea levels.  Decrease in river beds for flood control creates and increase in sea levels... eroding land mass that is then carried into the oceans increases sea levels... alot of thing impact sea levels that have nothing to do with warming or cooling of the planet.  In fact some of the things people love to claim increase sea level don't, such as melting of the polar ice cap.... people love to claim the north pole ice melt is increasing the sea levels, in fact the opposite is true go fill a glass with ice and then put water in it so the water is just to the top of the glass... now let it melt... guess what the water never overflowed, because ice is less dense than water ice actually caused the water level to be higher when the ice melted the more dense water allowed the level of water in the glass to shrink.

So when sea levels rise you can ask why, but don't assume it has anything to do with temps it could be other reasons.

Answer 10

Dana, I invited you to look at the data directly, if you had done so you’d have seen a very clear decline in sea level from 2005 onwards.

Instead you replied with a link to a graph. This graph has smoothed data, a linear trend line, and a shortened timescale.

The source data is still there, so you can still go and check it yourself.

http://sealevel.colorado.edu/current/sl_...

The Sea Levels are dropping.

The Oceans are cooling ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/anomali...

and the globe is no longer warming  http://hadobs.metoffice.com/hadcrut3/dia...

If the increased CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing the greenhouse effect and trapping more heat, then where is all this extra energy going?