Please find the article here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180212150739.htm

Jason-3 satellite mission helped detect an acceleration in sea level rise.

Credit: NOAA

I found an article that was published yesterday, February 12, 2018, via the ScienceDaily. The title reads “Sea level rise accelerating: acceleration in 25-year satellite sea level record.”  It caught my attention because for the past few class periods we have mentioned rising sea levels and how detrimental that can be to a coastal city like ours- Charleston, South Carolina. Therefore I decided to read the article and really enjoyed the way it was written and the subject, so I also made it my blog post assignment.

Steve Nerem led an assessment of rising sea levels and compared it to a driver accelerating to merge on a highway. That is how, over time, our sea levels our projected to rise. Therefore, this is not a small problem. They say this acceleration is due mainly to the melting of ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica, which can double our sea levels in just 82 short years. For that reason Nerem points out that sea levels are not at a constant rate, and will not be anytime soon according to projections. I do believe this is his whole agenda. Nerem really wants his audience, which seems to be students and/or professionals in this field of study, to understand the major changes that we will see in our sea levels. He simplifies concepts so that any reader could understand, though. He accomplished his agenda by providing his processes and findings on why sea levels are rising and how he found this data. I appreciated this, as it is always better to read an article that is backed up with research.

Nerem states that greenhouses gases are causing temperatures to rise which in turn causes thermal expansion, or warm water expansion. In addition, like noted before, melting ice land. Both of these processes causes a surplus of water which causes levels to rise drastically over time. To find this data the team used the Tide Gauge Data which analyzes satellite assessments from the ground, in which they can include other natural factors such as volcanoes. Nerem points out the importance of such technology so that researchers can have a great foundation to continue their research and get more answers. I couldn’t agree more- it is so important for us to innovate and take advantage of our new technology!

I thoroughly enjoyed this article as it was informative and persuasive. I did not feel like I was being pulled one way or another based on biases, but simply based on facts and research. Due to the research provided, I couldn’t agree more. The massive amounts of water that we will gain over time pose a huge threat to millions of people living in coastal areas around the world, including Charleston. I just think of all the misplaced people with no homes, jobs, or anything to their name due to flooding. This is a problem that will continue for years and years, and as we talk in class, makes me wonder if people will only realize the issue once it is too late. I also enjoyed learning about Tide Gauge Data to calculate the average sea level of the globe. It seems like a reliable measure that I will definitely research more. I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did!

Thanks,

Hannah Brookshire