So why aren’t sea levels 30 feet higher?
If the temperature claims are correct (impossible to verify since we can’t go back in time and so they are only based on always questionable paleo ‘data’), then sea level isn’t 30 feet higher because there’s more to sea level than just sea surface temperatures, of course.
The media release and abstract are below.
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Sea-surface Temps During Last Interglacial Period Like Modern Temps
Sea-surface temperatures during the last interglaciation period were like those of today, a new study reports. The trend is worrisome, as sea levels during the last interglacial period were between six and nine meters above their present height. The last interglaciation (LIG), which occurred 129,000 to 116,000 years ago, is thought to have been about as warm or a bit warmer than today, making it a useful reference to validate global climate models and understand sea-level response to a warming climate. Here, Jeremy S. Hoffman and colleagues compiled 104 published LIG sea surface temperature (SST) records from 83 marine sediment core sites. They compared each core site to data sets from 1870–1889 and 1995–2014, respectively. Their analysis reveals that, at the onset of the LIG 129,000 years ago, the global ocean SST was already similar to the 1870–1889 average. However, by 125,000 years ago, the global SST increased by 0.5° ± 0.3°Celcius, reaching a temperature indistinguishable from the 1995–2014 average. These results suggest that LIG global mean annual SSTs simulated with most global climate models are too low. As well, the data show that the Atlantic Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere was cooler at the beginning of the LIG, compared to temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere. Collectively, these results may help scientists better understand how oceans will respond to modern warming.
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Obama (Nomination victory speech): “… We will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment … when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal …”
Obviously, the seal level is not 30 feet higher, because President Obama was elected in 2008… (That’s what he said…)
Just don’t allow people to build on beaches. 🙂
The interglacial was talking 4,000 years time ranges which are in the time ranges of ocean mixing (10,000). Our present warming is over 100 years.
When the deep ocean warms up, in the winter in the northern and southern areas of the planet will have that warm water rising and melting the ice, not making more ice.
Calculate out the heat capacities of the oceans and you will understand.
‘there’s more to sea level than just sea surface temperatures, of course.’
Indeed. The basin is not a fixed size.
How did the temperature get “higher than today” without all the CO2 from our SUVs?
“So why aren’t sea levels 30 feet higher?”
Maybe it’s hiding in the deep ocean with all the heat.