Today’s Antarctic sea levels lowest in last several thousand years
Carbon dating evidence from the elevation of abandoned penguin rookeries (and other proxies) reveals that relative sea level (RSL) was ~30 meters higher than today across East Antarctica about 8,000 years ago (Small et al., 2025)
Following that highstand, RSL fell rapidly at rates of four to 10 meters per 1,000 years.
RSL was 24 meters above present sea level (ASL) by 7,200 years ago, 15 meters ASL by 5,700 years ago, five meters ASL by 3,200 years ago, and still one meter ASL about 800 years ago.
Image Source: Small et al., 2025
Another study from Antarctica’s South Shetland Islands suggests RSL has plummeted by 10 meters just in the last 2,000 years after a 15-meter highstand 9,000 years ago.
Image Source: Watcham et al., 2011
There are regions in the northern hemisphere where RSL reached similarly high elevations as they did across East Antarctica.
The southeast coast of Sweden, i.e., the southern Baltic Sea, records RSL 22 meters higher than today from approximately 7,500 to 6,200 years ago (Katrantsiotis et al., 2023).
Image Source: Katrantsiotis et al., 2023
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Herb Rose
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Another stupid article claiming large changes in sea level. Water covers 70% of the Earth’s surface so for the level to drop by 30 meters the depth of the ice on the land. including the tropics, must increase by over 70 meters to remove that level of water from the oceans. When you make allowance for the oceans not having perpendicular sides but sloped sides the amount of water being converted to ice becomes even more ridiculous.
Why use a term like -30 meters higher instead of 30 meters lower?
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Len Winokur
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If your comment “Why use a term like -30 meters higher instead of 30 meters lower?” is referring to the statement in this article’s first paragraph, did I misread this first paragraph as “… was ~30 meters higher …”? Because ~30, meaning ‘about 30’, makes the statement “…about 30 meters higher” grammatically, even if not factually, correct.
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very old white guy
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More foolishness from foolish people.
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Jerry Krause
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Hi VOWG,
Agree with you. I read “Female penguins travel significant distances, often 50 to 120 km (30-75 miles) each way, and sometimes much further, from their inland colonies to open water to find food …” [AI} For I also read that Small et al., 2025 seem to consider these colonies are only right next to open water.
Have a good day
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Jerry Krause
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“Phenomena” refers to observable events, and while there are countless types, four common classifications often seen in physics are Reflection, Refraction, Diffraction, and Interference (wave phenomena)”. [AI] Can you, or any other reader, describe a simply observed refraction event or refraction device?
Have a good day
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Herb Rose
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Emperor penguins
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Jerry Krause
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Wrong
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Herb Rose
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Light is an electromagnetic wave of radiated energy. All objects absorb radiated energy and all objects above absolute zero radiate energy.
Objects radiate both an energy field and electric fields in which the electromagnetic waves propagate. Depending on the wavelength Depending on the composition of the matter in the object it will absorb, reflect, or transmit different wavelengths of the energy. When an object absorbs a wavelength of the energy it will then radiate that energy at a longer wavelength.
This is what you call diffraction.
An emperor penguin will absorb all visible light where it is black, reflect all visible light where it is white, and reflect the yellow wavelength from its beak. The penguin will radiate the absorbed energy ass heat (infrared).
The penguins travel into Antarctica in the fall and the female lays an egg. The male puts the egg on top of its feet and covers it with his stomach to incubate it while the female returns to the ocean to feed. After the chick hatches the male will regurgitate fish to feed it. The female returns to take care of the chick while the male returns to the ocean to feed. Eventually both parents must leave the chick in order to provide it with enough food.
You know nothing about emperor penguins and less about physics.
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Jerry Krause
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“Depending on the wavelength Depending on the composition of the matter in the object it will absorb, reflect, or transmit different wavelengths of the energy.” [Herb]
What about refraction?
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Jerry Krause
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Herb, did you know “A three-body collision is essential for ozone (O₃) formation in the stratosphere because a newly formed, highly energetic oxygen atom (O) and an oxygen molecule (O₂) combining to make an unstable O₃ needs a third atmospheric molecule (like N₂ or O₂) to absorb excess energy, stabilizing the O₃ before it immediately breaks apart again, a process known as the Chapman mechanism, explained by University of Delaware and NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory.” [AI] ?
Have a good day
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Herb Rose
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You’ve found more bad science to believe in.
The bond strength for oxygen is O-O 142, O 495.
The bond strength for nitrogen is N=N 163, N-N 416, N 956.
When molecules collide the energies equalize between the masses. An O2 molecule must absorb radiated energy of 495 kjoules/mole to become 2 O atoms. It cannot gain this energy by colliding with molecules with less energy., conservation of momentum. If the molecules around the O atom have energy of 142 kjoules/mole then when the oxygen atom collides with an O-O molecule it will form O3 which will remain stable unless it collides with a molecule with less energy allowing it to lose energy.. When the molecules around the oxygen atom have energy above 163 kjoules/mole the atom can combine with a N=N molecule to form N2O and if the energy surrounding the oxygen atoms have energy of 463 kjoules/mole N2O2 molecules will form.
The types of molecules in the atmosphere show that the greater the altitude, the greater the energy of the molecules and the less dense the atmosphere.
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Jerry Krause
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Herb, where do you get the quantitative numbers you cite and who measured them? References?
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Jerry Kause
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Herb, please tell readers who YOU is so they can know to whom your comment is directed.
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Herb Rose
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You have a phd in chemistry but don’t know where to find the strength of covalent bonds. You truly have no knowledge of science, penguins, or anything else.
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Jerry Krause
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Hi PSI Readers,
Here is a link (https://principia-scientific.com/ancestors-tracing-history-scientific-method) to maybe the earliest quantitative science known to be done by humans. It is the nearly equally spaced 56 Aubrey Holes dug in a near CIRCLE. I have drawn this article to Herb’s and hopefully other PSI readers”attentions and asked how does one geometrically divide a circle into sevenths? for once this is done it is easy to divide the circle into 56s. I have asked this question several times since August 6, 2016 and as yet no one has even tried.
And I conclude this is because readers are TOO LAZY to try to do what someone did at Stonehenge thousands years ago and then Aubrey searched for them and found them several thousands of years later.
Have a good day
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Jerry Krause
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Hi PSI Editor,
My comment didn’t get attached to this article. Thank you for getting the comment being listed.
Have a good night
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