Last time it was this warm, sea levels were six to nine metres higher (posted 14.02.17)
A new paper by Assoc Prof Andrew Parnell in the School of Mathematics and Statistics entitled 'Regional and global sea-surface temperatures during the last interglaciation’ has been published in the world-renowned journal (opens in a new window)Science. The paper contains a temperature reconstruction from a large set of oceanographic cores. The temperature estimates from 120,000 years ago are indistinguishable from those which we observe today. This is a sobering thought, because sea levels during this period were 6 to 9 higher than present levels. It suggests that anthropogenic global warming has already committed us to a large sea level rise.
The paper has been covered by (opens in a new window)The Independent, (opens in a new window)The Guardian, (opens in a new window)Scientific American, (opens in a new window)Times of India, (opens in a new window)The Los Angeles Times, (opens in a new window)Radio France and (opens in a new window)many others.
Photo Credit: (opens in a new window)José Moutinho