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http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-11/ru-lap110804.phpLook at past sea-level rise points to troubling future
Rice U. geologists probe impact of rising seas along US Gulf Coast
New research presented at this week's annual meeting of the Geological Society of America shows that rising sea levels of as little as a half-meter per century have been sufficient to dramatically change the shoreline of the U.S. Gulf Coast within the past 10,000 years. The findings are significant because half-meter increases are within the moderate range of predictions for the Gulf Coast during this century.
"About 5,000 years ago, when sea level was rising approximately 50 centimeters per century, the upper part of Corpus Christi Bay increased by about one third over the span of about 200 years," said John Anderson, the W. Maurice Ewing Chair in Oceanography and professor of Earth science at Rice University in Houston. "Even without factoring in any effects from global warming, that's only about 20 percent slower than the projected sea level increases along the Texas and Louisiana coasts this century." [continued]