This new research using high-resolution sea level proxy evidence can be added to the list of 75 other recently published sea level papers indicating that global sea levels were on average about 1 to 5 meters higher than they are now(depending on location) just a few thousand years ago.
In a new paper, data from 57 sites along 17 km of coastal Denmark reveal that sea levels were 11 to 12.5 meters higher than they are today between 7,600 and 4,600 years ago.
Just 2,000 years ago, sea levels were still 12 meters higher than today along the coasts of King George Island (Antarctica) (Chu et al., 2017). And research published in 2011 suggested sea levels near the Antarctic Peninsula were as much as 15.5 meters higher than today between 8,000 and 7,000 years ago(Watcham et al., 2011).
“By pairing all boundary elevation measurements with an OSL age, the variation in elevation with age has been determined directly. The resulting curve reflects variation in relative sea level with time; we conclude that relativesea level initially rose between c. 7600 and c. 6250 years ago, reached a first peak value around 12.5 m apmsl [above present mean sea level] and a second peak value around 11 m apmsl c. 4600 years ago before it dropped to reach 2 m apmsl c. 2000 years ago.”
