Global sea level has risen eight to nine inches since reliable record keeping began in 1880 and is projected to rise another one to eight feet by 2100. Sea level rise is one of the indicators that describe climate change without reducing it to only temperature. The indicators comprise key information for the most relevant domains of climate change: temperature and energy, atmospheric composition, ocean and water, and the frozen cryosphere. Data collected by NASA’s Earth-observing instruments help scientists measure sea level rise and other key climate indicators to track how our planet is changing.

NASA’s climate indicator data include ocean surface current analyses showing how the speed of water flowing in the ocean is changing; ecosystem CO2 exchange and respiration data revealing the health of biospheres; carbon particle trajectory profiles that are part of measuring carbon flux; and permafrost and thaw carbon release data exemplifying how climate change produces events that then change the global climate even more.