26 February 2004 Hawaii's drowned coral reefs-- victims of
sudden climate change? Over the next 50 to 100 years, global
sea-level rise could become a major environmental and social
problem. Although sea levels are rising slowly at present,
recent research suggests that periods of very rapid sea-level
rise have occurred in the past, probably due to the breakup of
large ice sheets. In the March 2004 issue of Geology, MBARI
Postdoctoral Fellow Jody Webster presents new evidence for rapid
sea-level rise based on studies of drowned Hawaiian coral reefs.
To predict future changes in sea level, scientists must first
understand changes that have occurred in the past. Global sea
levels have been rising for about the last 19,000 years, ever
since the peak of the last ice age. However, determining exactly
how fast this rise occurred has been difficult, because some
coastal areas have been rising while others have been sinking
during this time. Webster chose the northeast coast of the
island of Hawaii for his study becau