Why will sea level rise as the climate warms?
We discussed the effect of changes in the size of glaciers and ice sheets on sea level in the
context of
the 100,000 year glacial-interglacial cycles that have characterized earth’s climate over the
past 1 million
years.
In addition, sea level will rise as the climate warms due to the thermal expansion of
seawater--i.e.
the fact that seawater expands as it warms.