Sea level update 🌊 In 2024, global sea level rose faster than expected mostly due to ocean water expanding as it warms, or thermal expansion. According to a NASA-led analysis, 2024’s rise was 0.23 in (0.59 cm) per year, compared to the expected rate of 0.17 in (0.43 cm) per year. In recent years, about two-thirds of sea level rise was from melting ice sheets and glaciers. About a third came from thermal expansion of seawater. But in 2024, those contributions flipped, with two-thirds of sea leve