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“We’ve measured sea level rise wrong for 20 years – and it’s higher than previously thought.” Well, no, not really. This is just one of the misleading headlines about the first study to try to work out how much the ocean floor is sinking under the weight of all the extra water pouring into it.
What’s more, climate deniers twisted the findings beyond all recognition, claiming “climate alarmists” were using the sinking sea floor as an excuse for why sea level isn’t rising as fast as predicted (it is and they aren’t).
So what is the actual story? Researchers have known for many decades that Earth’s crust is elastic and sinks in response to increased weight. “We are really sure about this,” says Thomas Frederikse of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
We also know that