if Sea levels rise 10 feet. Would it be equal everywhere, or would some areas be affected more?
In: Planetary Science
It would be more or less the same everywhere, since 10 feet would be in excess of variation. But there will still be variation, because sea level rise will also come with differences in how water moves and distributes around the ocean, especially since the coastline itself is changing.
For example, if sea levels rise due to the Greenland ice sheet melting, then Greenland itself would rise because it’s no longer weighed down. So it would be less in Greenland, but this would be a very slow process; parts of North America are still rebounding today even 10,000 years after the last ice age. There’s also places more susceptible to erosion like Bangladesh, and places adjacent to the sea that are already below sea level; the sea topping these areas would add to the level by 10 feet PLUS the amount it’s already below sea level.
Of course, one could technically say that it’s not the sea level changing, but the land level changing. But one way that the sea level itself could locally change is through disruption of ocean currents. Sea level is locally higher in areas where currents run up against land. If a current gets stronger, the sea level will rise more; if it gets weaker, it will rise less. And obviously it would change if the paths themselves change.
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