Nature Study: Coral Fossils Suggest That Sea Level Can Rise Rapidly

[steven johnson]

Sea level changes with climate change is becoming more disconcerting in terms of their abrupt alterations with temperature changes.

New York Times -- Science
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: April 15, 2009

Evidence from fossil coral reefs in Mexico underlines the potential for a sudden jump in sea levels because of global warming, scientists report in a new study.

“The potential for sustained rapid ice loss and catastrophic sea-level rise in the near future is confirmed by our discovery of sea-level instability” in that period, the authors write.

Yet other experts on corals and climate are faulting the work, saying that big questions about coastal risks in a warming world remain unresolved.

Among the most momentous and enduring questions related to human-caused global warming are how fast and how high seas may rise. Studies of past climate shifts, particularly warm-ups at the ends of ice ages, show that fast-melting ice sheets have sometimes raised sea levels worldwide in bursts of up to several yards in a century.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/science/earth/16coral.html?_r=1&ref=science