Sea level dispute

Had John Peter (Letters, 27 July) taken more than a “cursory look” at the data on Global Mean Sea Level he might have noticed that the information was published by the University of Colorado, not Columbia, as he stated, and only covered the period since 1993.

Had he looked further and consulted the scientific literature on this subject he would have found ample evidence that indeed the rate of sea-level rise is increasing.

For example, a graph (2008) shows that it took about 42 years (from 1900 to 1942) for sea levels to rise 50mm. Subsequent 50mm rises took 28 years (1942 to 1970) and 24 years (1970 to 1994). The current rate, at 3.1mm per year is 50mm in 16 years. That data shows an increasing rate of sea level rise.