By 2100, the NRC estimates that global sea levels will rise between 20-55 inches (50 and 140 centimeters). The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's projection in 2007 had predicted a fraction of that, at seven to 23 inches (18-59 centimeters) worldwide.
"Our answers are pretty much in line with what others have done except that the IPCC was a little timid in 2007 about the ice contribution, so using more current information about the ice melt we have a bigger contribution there," said Robert Dalrymple, committee chair and professor of civil engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
The wide range within each estimate is due to increasing uncertainty about sea level projections as researchers attempt to assess what may happen further and further into the future, the report said. In the near term, the NRC predicted a global sea level rise of three to nine inches (eight to 23 centimeters) by 2030 (over the 2000 level) and seven to 19 inches (18 to 48 centimeters) by 2050.
The committee was convened by an executive order from the state of California to assess sea level rise in order to inform preparations for coastal impact, and to make detailed predictions for the US West Coast. The NRC found that the sea level was projected to rise faster than global estimates in much of southern California due to land erosion and subsiding coastline....
Under the Redondo Beach boardwalk, shot by Natalie Ries, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license
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