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A recent large-scale survey of Antarctica’s ice sheets has revealed that the rate of ice melt from the (mostly) frozen southern continent has tripled over the last decade, releasing volumes of water into the ocean on par with the freshwater flow from Greenland. Increasing temperatures from the air above and the ocean below has accelerated the melting of the ice shelves in West Antarctica, and overall ice sheet growth in East Antarctica has slowed. Additionally, the loss of ice mass in the south means that sea level rise will be more pronounced in the north, spelling trouble for populations living in coastal areas, including those of the United States.
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With coastal areas bracing for rising sea levels, new research indicates that cutting emissions of certain pollutants can greatly slow down sea level rise this century.

A research team found that reductions in just FOUR pollutants that cycle comparatively quickly through the atmosphere could temporarily forestall the rate of sea level rise by 25 to 50%.

As glaciers and ice sheets melt and warming oceans expand, sea levels have been rising by an average of about 3 millimeters annually in recent years (just more than one-tenth of an inch). If temperatures continue to warm, sea levels are projected to rise between 7 and 23 inches this century. Some scientists, however, feel those estimates are too conservative.
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The ocean off the coast of New York once had a bivalve population of TRILLIONS that once protected the area from storm surges stabilized the shoreline from Washington to Boston.

The best place for oysters is in the margin between saltwater and freshwater, where the river meets the sea, and New York’s harbor area is filled with such places. Until the European arrived and started harvesting them, oysters themselves feasted on the huge algae blooms in that area. Layer after layers of oyster shells built up for more than 7,000 years, resulting in enormous underwater reefs around nearly every shoreline, forming a natural levee.
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