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Sea levels and greenhouse gas emissions are rising faster |
Sea levels in the oceans and greenhouse gas emissions are rising at a rate faster than they have in thousands of years, according to two reports released yesterday, reigniting debates about global warming.
A study by American scientists has found that sea levels in Earth’s oceans have risen at twice the speed over the past 150 years, indicating the impact of human activities on global temperatures.
In an article published in the journal Science, researchers from Rutgers University in New Jersey stated that sea levels rose by about 1 mm per year roughly 200 years ago and even further back, about 5,000 years ago. Since then, sea levels have increased at a rate of approximately 2 mm per year.
According to them, oceans could rise nearly half a meter by the end of this century, forcing coastlines to retreat by hundreds of meters.
In another report also published in Science, European researchers discovered that carbon dioxide levels remained unchanged until about 200 years ago. However, currently, “the rate of carbon dioxide increase is 200 times faster than previous increases,” said Thomas Stocker, a climate researcher at the University of Bern.
This also means that current carbon dioxide levels are 27% higher than they were 650,000 years ago, and methane levels, another greenhouse gas, are up by 130%, according to Thomas Stocker.
TƯỜNG VY (Reuters, Xinhua)
