Global warming alert as sea level rise said to be fastest rate for 2,100 years

Published on Monday 20 June 2011 20:08

Global warming is causing sea levels to rise at a faster rate today than at any time in the past 2,100 years, according to new research.

Scientists used the fossils left by tiny marine animals to record two millennia of sea levels along the US Atlantic coast.

They found a pattern of sea level change that was consistent with warming and cooling climate.

From 200BC to AD1,000, sea levels were relatively stable. Then during a 400-year warm climate period from the start of the 11th century, the levels rose by about half a millimetre a year.

This was followed by a second period of stable sea level associated with a cooler period, known as the Little Ice Age, which lasted until the late 19th century.

But there had been a dramatic change since the start of industrialisation and sharp increases in greenhouse gas emissions.

From the late 19th century onwards, sea levels had risen by an average of more than two millimetres a year, the steepest rate for 2,100 years.

The international team's findings are published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Study leader Dr Benjamin Horton, of the University of Pennsylvania, US, said: "Sea-level rise is a potentially disastrous outcome of climate change, as rising temperatures melt land-based ice and warm ocean waters."