Does Global Warming Affect Earth's Water Levels? Can We Even Tell?

• Glaciers are receding.
• The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are breaking up and floating into the oceans.
• As Climate Change worsens, ocean levels will rise and threaten all continental coastlines.

These are the scientific assertions and governments are responding with a variety of mitigation programs that some consider to be too expensive and many consider to be not enough.

If all of these things are happening, then surely it would be helpful if there was a way to measure these changes - accurately and dependably. The following article from the European Science Foundation (11/2008) - Measuring Water From Space - offers examples of how this task is being executed.

In March of 2002, NASA and the German Aerospace Center launched twin satellites to make detailed measurements of the Earth's gravity field as part of its overall efforts to continually monitor Earth's natural systems. The program is called GRACE - Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment.

Scientists from the Labratoire d'Etudes en Geophysique et Oceanographie Spatiale as well as the European Space Agency and DeMontfort University in the UK are also actively using data from these satellites to measure sea levels and lake and river levels.

"The importance of this information will be crucial for monitoring its effects and predicting future impacts on different regions."