Paleoclimatology - Blog Posts

A study of "fossil beaches", those areas where geology and fossils show they were once pre-historic coasts, is aiming to give us a better picture of the threat of sea level rise. Researchers acknowledge that, even during natural climatic shifts, carbon dioxide is the primary driver of global warming and cooling. During the Pliocene, carbon dioxide was at 400ppm and sea level was much higher. We are currently at 393ppm and rising. We are likely to cross over 400ppm in the next several years. Thus, looking at sea level rise during the Pliocene can give us a picture of what sea levels may look like as a result of current global warming. This map shows where the coastline was in the U.S. during the Pliocene.