Earth’s surface temperature has risen over the past century due to emissions that have released vast amounts of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere and the oceans absorb approximately 80 percent of this heat.1 Thermal expansion, melting of glaciers and polar ice caps, and ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica are the largest contributors to the rise in sea levels.2 According to core samples, tide gauge reading, and satellite measurements, the Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL) has risen 10-20 centimeters, but the speed of sea level rise (SLR) has picked up.3 Over the past 20 years the annual rate of rise has been 3.2 millimeters, this is approximately twice the average speed of SLR over the past 80 years. Scientists predict this number
