He obviously continues to worry a lot about Hansen's predicted catastrophic rise in ocean levels.
Studies by the International Union for Quaternary Research conclude that some ocean levels have even fallen in recent decades.
The destructive flooding caused by the storm Sandy, which struck the U.S. East Coast in late October, revived anxieties about rising ocean levels in heavily populated coastal regions.
Ocean levels are rising because Arctic sea ice is melting.
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Al Gore and other perhaps less divinely inspired modern-day Noahs continue to speak out about an imminent threat of floods posed by rising ocean levels resulting from melting ocean and glacier ice.
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Scientists say rising temperatures could lead to rising ocean levels, which would in turn swamp coastal areas and islands, wipe out species, create economic havoc and amplify the impact of natural disasters such as storms, fires and droughts.
This capability provides access to new levels of ocean data, more pervasively and more cost effectively than from existing alternatives.
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Though that did not make the situation any better than it is now, it was enough to stop storms becoming even more powerful as global carbon-dioxide levels rose, and ocean temperatures rose with them.
The ocean's temperature and carbon dioxide levels are important because of their impact on our atmosphere.
The USGS scientists, using tide gauge data and computer modeling, believe that a combination of factors, including the pressures of favorable ocean currents, has actually suppressed sea levels for a time, but that time ended two decades ago, and now the trend is headed upward, much faster than elsewhere.
Ocean ecosystems are beset by changes in nutrient levels due to run off near the coasts and by overfishing, which plays havoc with food webs nearly everywhere.
But Banjul, capital of Gambia in West Africa, is likely to sink entirely into the ocean due to a combination of erosion and rising sea levels, according to a 2002 World Bank discussion paper on cities and climate change.
En route to Australia, Plastiki will sail through the infamous North Pacific Gyre, now home to "The Great Garbage Patch, " named due to the high levels of waste that have been drawn there by ocean currents.
The latest information on sea levels and high tides is available from the NOAA's National Ocean Service.
Ice levels were measured by satellite, and those measurements were confirmed using submarine studies and ocean-based sensors.
Securing the role of the ocean as a source of life, of food and of biodiversity, requires effective action at many levels.
About 100 million years ago, sea levels were about 300 metres higher than at present because of changes in the volume of ocean basins due to movement by the Earth's techtonic plates.
The researchers looked at variations in oxygen levels in the shells of tiny sea creatures found in samples taken from the world's ocean beds.
At regional and local levels, it is important to reduce other environmental stressors such as local sources of pollution into the ocean.
High levels of cesium 134 and 137 were confirmed at the point of the leak roughly 300 yards from the ocean, but no detectable amounts of radioactive contamination have been found in the sea water.
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