Environment

Sea levels have risen almost six centimeters since 1995.

Sea levels have continued to increase by 3.2 millimeters per year, according to a NASA chart analyzing data from 1992 to 2012. There was some debate after recordings showed a quarter inch drop in seal levels between the summer of 2010 to the summer of 2011. The reason for the drop was due to a big El Nino followed by a massive La Nina. These climate events were so powerful they changed storm patterns around the world and brought massive rains and floods to places like Australia, South America, and Southeast Asia. So much water was transferred onto the continents that the level of the oceans fell by about five millimeters, circled on the chart below.

Climate change skeptics used this drop to deny the oceans are rising, but the latest data shows we are still on track for rising waters. The NASA and European Topex/Poseidon, Jason-1 and Jason-2 satellites have been circling the Earth, tracking the rise of the oceans. The oceans are rising due to global warming melting glaciers and ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.