 | For most of the last century, thermal expansion from simply heating up the ocean was the main contributor to the global rise in sea level. But that’s changed in the last two decades.
A recent study shows melting of land-based ice and the resulting runoff into the sea now accounts for twice as much sea level rise as thermal expansion does. More than half of the contribution from land-based ice is from melting of alpine glaciers and ice caps, while Greenland and Antarctica (both ice sheets) account for the rest. |