[Economist]: Ancient plumbing warns that all is not well with rising sea levels.
Research from Dorit Sivan of the University of Haifa indicate that the sea level has remained reasonably
constant over the past 2,000 years. This is in contrast to precise
tide-gauge measurements recorded for the past century from around the
globe, which have led the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to
conclude that sea level has been rising by at least 1mm per year. If
this rate of change is extrapolated back, the sea level when Caesarea
was abandoned should have been about 1.5 metres lower than today, and
2-3 metres lower than when it was built. Data from the Caesarean wells
show that this is not the case, which means that the rise in sea level
detected in the 20th century is a recent phenomenon.
Just how recent remains to be established. But Caesarea's Roman
plumbing suggests that the oceans are now encroaching on to the land at
a pace not seen since the end of the last ice age.
(Thanks to Stuart Auchinschloss for the forward.)
9:38:38 AM 
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