Global Warming Causes Rising Land Levels

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Global Warming Causes Rising Land Levels What?? For many years now, scientists around the world said that Global Warming would result in the Sea Levels rising. This is because Global Warming causes the Polar Ice Caps to melt. The large amount of water that resulted would cause the Sea Levels to rise and many coastal regions would be submerged. This effect is already seen in many parts of the world. However in some other parts of the world the effect is just the opposite. The land levels here are rising. How is this possible? As the Polar ice melted and drained into the oceans, the enormous weight of the ice was lifted from the land below. This caused the land mass to rise. This effect is similar to what happens when we sit on a cushion. It gets pressed down. When we stand up, the cushion again moves upward.

As the ice gets deposited on the land...	The ice presses the land downward.	When the ice melts, the land moves upward again.

The land is rising in certain places by as much as 3 cm a year with some unexpected results. As the ice melted and flowed down towards the seas it caused heavy silting leading to a further increase in the land levels.

In Juneau, Alaska, Morgan DeBoer built a 9-hole golf course on his property which was previously under water. He is so happy with the results that he plans to add another 9 holes to his golf course.
	In Kvarken located in the Gulf of Bothnia which separates Finland from Sweden, the land is rising so rapidly that scientists predict that soon there will be a land route from Finland to Sweden.

Since the land uplift is so rapid here, Kvarken has now been granted World Heritage status as it is the best place in the world for studying how the land is rising. The main town of Rödlöga, an island near Stockholm used to be divided by a waterway. Today the two parts are joined together due to the rising land levels. The effect is observed in several places like Alaska, Northern Sweden, Scotland and Siberia. This is known as post-glacial rebound or glacial isostatic adjustment and is not new. It has existed for about 10,000 years since the last Ice-Age. Does this mean that we do not have to worry about rising Sea Levels? No, the problem of rising sea levels still exists. The land levels are rising in areas which were covered by ice. For the rest of the world the problem is different. In the British Isles, parts of Northern Scotland are rising up from the ocean while the Southern parts of England are sinking. We should therefore continue to try to reduce our use of fossil fuels. Conservation and the use of alternative sources of Energy like Solar and Wind Power will help to reduce the problem of Global Warming.

George Ferrao