Maryland May See Rising Sea Levels

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Faster and higher. That's the new projection for rising sea levels, and it's not good news for Maryland.

Alex DeMetrick with what scientists say is increasing the threat to coastlines here and around the world.

It's melting ice. New findings indicate it's happening faster and on a vastly larger scale than previously believed.

The bitter cold that keeps water locked up in ice in Antarctica has long been expected to be impacted by global warming, but a new study finds ice sheets are cracking and breaking away sooner than expected.

Coupled with melting ice in Greenland and the Arctic, sea levels could rise by six feet by the end of this century. That's on top of the one foot rise in the 20th.

"The sea level rise we saw in the last century was really unprecedented in 2,800 years," Dr. Donald Boesch, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

Science uses data from the ground, space and history to make predictions.

"In computer models where we make simulations of the ice sheet to figure how much ice is going into the ocean now and how much might go in the future," said Tom Wagner, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

The burning of fossil fuels traps heat in the upper atmosphere, warming the planet. If they aren't reduced...

"If we don't, if we continue to grow our emissions, it's going to be at least three and a half feet and be as high as five feet," said Boesch.

That does not bode well for Maryland, which is already experiencing the effects of sea level rise.

Maps produced by climate central show what could go underwater in Baltimore on the left if pollution continues at current levels.

And on the right, what goes under if pollution is reduced.

And that's only a small part of the state's 3,000 miles of shoreline.

Melting ice in Antarctica is projected to eventually raise sea levels by 50 feet over the next four centuries--enough to put most of Delaware underwater, as well as Sacramento, California.

The new projections for sea level rise were published in the journal Nature.

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