Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 13 February 2018
Satellites show warming is accelerating sea level rise

By SETH BORENSTEIN "would have big effects on
AP Science Writer places like Miami and New
WASHINGTON (AP) — Melt- Orleans, but I don't still view
ing ice sheets in Greenland that as catastrophic" be-
and Antarctica are speed- cause those cities can sur-
ing up the already fast vive — at great expense —
pace of sea level rise, new that amount of rising seas
satellite research shows. under normal situations,
At the current rate, the Nerem said.
world's oceans on aver- But when a storm hits like
age will be at least 2 feet 2012's Superstorm Sandy,
(61 centimeters) higher sea level rise on top of
by the end of the century storm surge can lead to
compared to today, ac- record-setting damages,
cording to researchers who researchers said.
published in Monday's Pro- Some scientists at the
ceedings of the National American Geophysical
Academies of Sciences. Union meeting last year
Sea level rise is caused by said Antarctica may be
warming of the ocean and melting faster than predict-
melting from glaciers and ed by Monday's study.
ice sheets. The research, Greenland has caused
based on 25 years of satel- three times more sea level
lite data, shows that pace rise than Antarctica so far,
has quickened, mainly but ice melt on the south-
from the melting of mas- In this Oct. 30, 2012 file photo, the intersection of 8th Street and Atlantic Avenue is flooded in ern continent is responsible
Ocean City, N.J., after the storm surge from Superstorm Sandy flooded much of the town.
sive ice sheets. It confirms for more of the accelera-
scientists' computer simu- three-quarters of that ac- ble for about 3,000 years said climate scientist Stefan tion.
lations and is in line with celeration since 1993 is until the 20th century when Rahmstorf of the Potsdam "Antarctica seems less sta-
predictions from the United due to melting ice sheets in they rose and then acceler- Institute in Germany, who ble than we thought a few
Nations, which releases Greenland and Antarctica, ated due to global warm- wasn't part of the study. years ago," Rutgers climate
regular climate change re- the study shows. ing caused by the burning Two feet of sea level rise scientist Robert Kopp said.
ports. Like weather and climate, of coal, oil and natural gas, by the end of the century q
"It's a big deal" because the there are two factors in
conservative estimate and small rises and falls that are Woman had 14 worms pulled
projected sea level rise is a sea level rise: year-to-year

it is likely to be higher, said caused by natural events
lead author Steve Nerem of and larger long-term ris- from her eye after rare infection
the University of Colorado. ing trends that are linked
Outside scientists said even to man-made climate
small changes in sea levels change. Nerem's team re- The flies feed on the tears
can lead to flooding and moved the natural effects that lubricate the eyeball,
erosion. of the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo scientists said.
"Any flooding concerns eruption that temporar- She had been horseback
that coastal communi- ily chilled Earth and the cli- riding and fishing in Gold
ties have for 2100 may mate phenomena El Nino Beach, Oregon, a coastal,
occur over the next few and La Nina, and found the cattle-farming area.
decades," Oregon State accelerating trend. After a week of eye irrita-
University coastal flooding Sea level rise, more than By MIKE STOBBE in August 2016. Scientists re- tion, Beckley pulled a worm
expert Katy Serafin said in temperature, is a better AP Medical Writer ported the case Monday. from her eye. Over two
an email. gauge of climate change NEW YORK (AP) — An Or- The woman, Abby Beck- weeks, doctors removed
Of the 3 inches (7.5 centi- in action, said Anny Caze- egon woman who had ley, was diagnosed in Au- 13 more.
meters) of sea level rise in nave, director of Earth sci- worms coming out of her gust 2016 with Thelazia gu- The worms were translu-
the past quarter century, ence at the International eye is being called the first losa. That's a type of eye cent and each less than
about 55 percent is from Space Science Institute in known human case of a worm seen in cattle in the half an inch long.
warmer water expanding, France, who edited the parasitic infection spread northern United States and After they were removed,
and the rest is from melting study. Cazenave is one by flies. southern Canada, but nev- no more worms were found
ice. of the pioneers of space- Fourteen tiny worms were er before in humans. and she had no additional
But the process is accel- based sea level research. removed from the left eye They are spread by a type symptoms.
erating, and more than Global sea levels were sta- of the 26-year-old woman of fly known as "face flies." Eye worms are seen in
several kinds of animals,
including cats and dogs.
They can be spread by
different kinds of flies. Two
other types of Thelazia eye
worm infections had been
seen in people before, but
never this kind, according
to Richard Bradbury of the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. He was the
study’s lead author. q