Gulf Coast Visitor Center

Warmth and Water

Scroll to learn more

How do Warming Temperatures Cause Sea Level Rise?

Sea level rise due to climate change is mostly caused by melting snow and ice, and by expanding water.

Melting Snow and Ice

Glaciers and ice caps hold monumental amounts of water. As Earth warms, temperatures intensify more at the poles—where most of the glaciers and ice caps are located. Subtle changes in temperature result in large amounts of land ice melting. Glaciers in Alaska and nearby Canada have contributed more to global sea level rise than the Greenland Ice Sheet in the last 50 years —likely due to their low elevations and the calving retreats of tidewater glaciers.

Move the slider to see how some of the glaciers at Kenai Fjords National Park changed over the last 100 years.

A Century of Change

Northwestern Glacier

A black and white photo of a 1904 glacier coming down the mountains and forming a long wall on top of a lake. As the handle slides to the right, the image changes to a 2005 color photo of the same location, but there is no glacier on the lake. The glacier stops in the mountains before reaching the lake.

1909

2005

Grab and slide the handle above.

Why Melting Glaciers Matter to the Coasts

Audio-described version

Expanding Water

Another cause of global sea level rise is thermal expansion. Warm water takes up more space than cold water. See how, in this video.

How Warming Leads to Sea Level Rise

Audio-described version

No Room to Rise

Everglades National Park is very vulnerable to sea level rise due to its low elevation. Slide through the maps to see how sea level rise will affect the Everglades here.

Everglades