Contractors for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pump sand from the ocean floor onto the beach in the Rockaway Peninsula in New York City to craft a 250-foot-wide sandy beach along more than seven miles of shoreline to help protect the city from storms and rising sea levels. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
Transcript:
Melting ice is not the only reason global sea levels are rising. Climate change is also causing the ocean’s water to expand, pushing it farther onto shore.
As the climate warms, most of the additional heat in the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean.
Today, the surface of the ocean is about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it was in the 1800s.
