``The sea level rise in the last 100 years was about 10 times faster compared with the average growth over the last 3,000 years,''

This adds supporting evidence for those who argue that the oceans are warming (therefore EXPANDING/RISING) from the BOTTOM UP, and that this is one of the side effects of the approaching 12th Planet, exciting the core of the earth as it is proven by the increased volcanic activity, not but the mere effect of warmer air.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010514/sc/environment_climate_un_dc_2.html

Monday May 14 2:50 PM ET
Experts Argue Over U.N. Report on Rising Sea Level

By Eva Sohlman

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Rising sea levels may not be connected to global warming and a U.N. report making the link is simplistic, a world authority on sea changes said Monday.

Rising sea levels may instead be caused by factors including solar radiation and the rotation of the earth, according to an association of experts on sea, climate and land change.

``The connection between heat and rising sea levels is not as simple as the IPCC (U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) claims,'' Nils-Emil Morner of the International Association of Quarternary Research (INQUA) told Reuters.

A growing number of scientists believe greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, trap heat in the atmosphere, push up temperatures, melt glaciers and so raise sea levels. The changes may also bring storms, floods and droughts.

But Morner, professor of geology at Sweden's Stockholm University and president of INQUA's commission on sea level changes and coastal evolution, said the connection between sea levels and temperature increase had not yet been established.

``Just because temperatures are rising does not necessarily mean sea levels will rise,'' he added.

Morner said the average temperature during the mid-1200s was one degree Celsius warmer than present temperatures and the sea level had remained unchanged.

But Jonathan Gregory, doctor of physics at Britain's Hadley climate center, said it was only in the mid-1900s that temperatures could be measured properly and previous data were unreliable.

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Gregory, who edited the chapter on sea changes of the U.N. report, said the link between sea levels and temperature rises could not be dismissed.

``The sea level rise in the last 100 years was about 10 times faster compared with the average growth over the last 3,000 years,'' he said.

The fact the IPCC had concluded that warming in the northern hemisphere in the 21st century is likely to be the greatest in the last 1,000 years added weight to claims of a link between sea and temperature movements, he added.

The IPCC report is the work of 2,500 of the world's top climate scientists and predicts sea levels will rise about 0.08-0.98 meters between 1990 and 2100.

But Morner said calculations based entirely on field studies showed a maximum rise of 0.11 meters in the same period.

The average temperature is expected to increase by 1.5-6.0 degrees Celsius in the same period, according to the report.

Morner also cast doubt on concerns that low-lying island states such as the Maldives and the Federated States of Micronesia might be flooded out because of rising sea levels caused by global warming.

He said an INQUA study showed sea levels had fallen in the Maldives in the past 30 years.

But Gregory said the movements of sea levels differed around the world. ``In a short time levels may have sunk but our conclusion is that sea levels rose 10-20 centimeters in the 20th century,'' he said.