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Analysis and Earth

If the sea floor is sinking, are we safe from sea level rise?

The first study to calculate how much the ocean floor is sinking due to the extra weight of meltwater going into the sea has been widely misrepresented

By Michael Le Page

10 January 2018

Spouts carry meltwater from the surface of the Austfonna Ice Cap — Meltwater adds to sea level rise
Ira Block/National Geographic/Getty

“W��’�� for 20 years – and it’s higher than previously thought.” Well, no, not really. This is just one of the misleading headlines about the first study to try to work out how much the ocean floor is sinking under the weight of all the extra water pouring into it.

What’s more, climate deniers twisted the findings beyond all recognition, claiming “climate alarmists” were using the sinking sea floor as an excuse for why sea level isn’t rising as fast as predicted (it is and they aren’t).…

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