Justin Gillis/The New York Times. Alessio Rovere, a Columbia University researcher, examined an ancient shoreline deposit in Cape Agulhas, South Africa. Dunes moving inland ahead of a rising sea are believed to have buried trees at the site, with the decaying trunks producing the unusual features at center.

Thanks to Green Blog for linking to this article in the New York Times Science section on Tuesday:

In my article in Tuesday’s Science Times about the risks of long-term sea level rise, and in an accompanying podcast, I reported on the link between past instances of global warming, caused by natural fluctuations in the climate, and higher shorelines.

Based on a study of these past variations, some scientists believe that even if we stopped burning fossil fuels tomorrow, we would be due for a substantial rise in sea levels over the long term as ice sheets slowly respond to the warmer temperatures brought on by the greenhouse gases that humans have already dumped into the atmosphere.

The paleoclimate record, as it is known, suggests that even a slight amount of global warming can produce a rise of 25 or 30 feet. And if scientists are anywhere close to right in their projections, the warming over the coming century due to human activity is going to be more than slight. That means a long-term rise in sea level of as much as 80 feet cannot be ruled out.

Read the whole story here…