Prior to the transition from the last ice age to the current interglacial climate, when CO2 levels still lingered below 250 ppm, the relative sea levels in southern Greenland were “at least ∼32 m above present.”
Relative sea levels have undergone a series of major changes since the last glacial maximum, when global sea levels were 120 meters below today’s.
Sea levels rose at rates of up to 60 or 70 millmeters per year (6 to 7 meters per century, Tanabe, 2020) from about 12,000 to 8,000 years ago. Most of the globe experienced sea level high stands of 2 or 3 meters above present between about 7,000 to 5,000 years ago (King et al., 2020, Lopes et al., 2020, Martins et al., 2020).
But a new study (Steffen et al., 2020) proposes relative sea levels instead peaked at 32 meters above today’s levels in Nanotalik (southern Greenland) during the latter stages of the last ice age (13,800 years ago).
Image Source: Steffen et al., 2020
Image Source: Tanabe, 2020
Image Source: King et al., 2020
Image Source: Lopes et al., 2020
[…] Scientists Assert Relative Sea Levels Were 32 Meters Higher Than Today In South Greenland 13,800 Yea… […]
Withdrawal of groundwater from underground can cause land to subside. As more and more underground water has been extracted from beneath Venice Venice has started to sink. Conversely if water is reintroduced to drier subterranean landscapes the land should rise up. Could this account for some of the apparent sea level fall in relation to the land on the coast of Brazil