Jerry Mitrovica featured in article from the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability.

If you imagine the effect melting polar ice caps have on sea levels, you might picture a uniform rise around the world – like sitting down in a bathtub, or like the crow dropping pebbles, one by one, into Aesop’s pitcher.

For a long time, that view dominated among scientists. The seas have risen about 8 inches since the early 1900s after holding relatively constant for 2000 years – but that 8 inches is a global average that overlooks myriad local processes and impacts.

We now have a much more nuanced understanding of sea-level rise – and it is anything but uniform. In fact, competing physical forces change relative sea levels in ways that can appear counterintuitive.