Global sea levels rising faster over past 20 yrs than previously believed

University of Tasmania research found that sea level rise sped up over the last two decades rather than slowing down as previously thought, the Guardian reported.

Records from tide gauges and satellites have shown sea level rise slowing slightly over the past 20 years, but as the ice sheets of West Antarctica and Greenland shed ever more water into the ocean, climate models show it should be doing the opposite.

Lead researcher Christopher Watson said that the thing that was really puzzling them was that the last decade of sea level rise was marginally slower, ever so subtly slower, than the decade before it..

Watson added that they see acceleration and the fact that it's consistent with the projections of sea level rise published by the IPCC is striking, noting that sea level rise is getting faster.

Jonathan Gregory from the University of Reading and a lead author of the IPCC's most recent climate report said that the study was "interesting and useful" and shored up the predictions of the models, adding that the better agreement of the altimeter record after the correction is a reason for greater confidence in the projections.