Sea level rise will hit the coasts the hardest. Second, warm water expands and takes up more space than colder water, increasing the volume of water in the sea. First, warmer temperatures cause ice on land like glaciers and ice sheets to melt, and the meltwater flows into the ocean to increase sea level. Carbon dioxide absorbs heat from the sun and traps it, warming the atmosphere and the planet.Īs the planet gets warmer, sea level rises for two reasons. When burned, these high-energy fuel sources send carbon dioxide up into the atmosphere. Sea level started rising in the late 1800s, soon after we started burning coal, gas and other fossil fuels for energy. Scientists agree that the changes in climate that we are seeing today are largely caused by human activity, and it's climate change that drives sea level rise. Sea level is expected to rise even more quickly by the end of the century. By 2000, that rate had increased to about 3.2 millimeters per year and the rate in 2016 is estimated at 3.4 millimeters per year. Between 19 studies show that sea level rose between 1.2 millimeters and 1.7 millimeters per year on average. The rate of sea level rise has also increased over time. That's a pretty big change: for the previous 2,000 years, sea level hadn't changed much at all. Today, sea level is 5 to 8 inches (13-20 centimeters) higher on average than it was in 1900. These are small daily changes that balance out over time.īut over the past century, the average height of the sea has risen more consistently-less than a centimeter every year, but those small additions add up. When you visit the beach, waves roll in and recede and the tides rise and fall. Now, whenever anyone asks you what tidal locking is, you now know what to tell them: It is when one body in space orbits another in way that causes its day and year to be the same in length.The ocean never stops moving. Therefore, more can be tidally locked than just planets and their moons. A Canadian telescope may have also confirmed that a star is tidally locked with a nearby planet. Tidal locking doesn’t have to only exist between a moon and planet it can happen with other bodies in space too! Astronomers often say that binary stars, or star systems that have two stars at their center, are most likely tidally locked to each other. That means millions of years from now that we may be like Pluto and Charon, meaning we may only see one side of the moon and the moon only sees one side of Earth. Tidal locking does influence how our planet moves, because tidal locking slows down the spin of our planet. This would be like the Earth showing the same side of the planet to the moon, and the moon showing the same side to us. This means that Pluto always shows the same side to Charon, and Charon always shows the same side to Pluto. However, Pluto and Charon are a special case because they are both tidally locked to each other. Pluto’s moon, Charon, is tidally locked to its primary body (Pluto). Other planets have tidally locked moons too. The slowing of the moon eventually causes the orbit to match its rotation. The moon is pulled and stretched, which causes it to slow down. This force causes the bodies to stretch and distort, which actually causes Earth’s tides. The force that is exerted will always be stronger on the sides facing each other, meaning the force exerted on the moon and Earth is stronger where they face each other. Tidal locking happens because both bodies, the moon and the Earth in the previous example, exert force on each other. The moon orbits around Earth every 28 days, and the moon rotates completely around its axis in 28 days. This is because the moon is tidally locked to the Earth. We see the same side of the moon, never getting a glimpse of its other side from Earth. By having equal years and days, this orbiting body shows the same side of its face to those looking at it from the other body, or the body that being rotated around. This means that the body spins around its own axis once for each time it orbits around another, specific body in space. Tidal locking is when a body in space orbits another body in a way that the body’s year and day are equal in length. You may have never heard of tidal locking before and may wonder, what exactly is tidal locking? What does it look like, and what does it even mean?