Rising sea levels threaten the existence of many low-lying coastal cities and their populations. Understanding the phenomenon of sea level rise is crucial to designing mitigation plans and dealing with the immediate impacts of climate change. In pursuit of better prediction and understanding, New York University professor David Holland combines field work done on the east and west coasts of Greenland with research done at the Center for Global Sea Level Change at NYU Abu Dhabi and the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU New York.

The Center for Global Sea Level Change emphasizes educating the next generation in the field through various outreach activities. Students from NYUAD have opportunities to go work in the labs in New York and Abu Dhabi and to do field work in Greenland over the summer. Prashant Sharma, Class of 2018, is one student who went to Greenland.

“I got a firsthand experience to see the effects of climate change on the landscape and vegetation of Greenland,” said Sharma. The internship teaches students to use equipment in the field and analyze the collected data.

Additionally, Holland is currently teaching Global Climate Change at NYUAD.

“The class has taught me about the historical trend of temperature change. It has also made me aware of the effects of atmosphere, ice sheets, ocean and land masses that create a feedback system on the climate of earth,” said Febin Thapa Magar, Class of 2020, who is currently taking the class.

The Center for Global Sea Level Change aims to project and understand sea level change caused by glacial melting.

“Currently, the climate models are not as robust as the weather models,” said Denise Holland, field and logistics manager.

As the principal investigator, David Holland will be meeting more than 30 experts in May to discuss findings of research done on sea level rise to further develop a more robust model for sea level projections. Additionally, government agencies in the United Arab Emirates like the Navy and the Bureau of Urban Planning and Municipalities have expressed interest in the research done by the center. They have been in contact with Holland to gain a better understanding of the impact of sea level rise on the UAE.

The equipment used in their research includes ocean gliders, conductivity, temperature and depth rosettes and the ocean seafloor mooring buoy. These are released into the ocean and then collected to retrieve the data.

“The equipment has to withstand extreme conditions, which is a challenge in collecting data,” said Holland.

In some instances, equipment has been lost and found in other parts of the world. The center has collaborated with biologists to find innovative ways to collect data, such as getting help from seals that swim year-round in ice-covered ocean areas. The equipment collects valuable data that helps Holland and his students in their research.

One major finding is the effect of saline water on glacial melting. Cold fresh water is denser than warm fresh water. However, the warm water that flows from the warmer parts of earth is saline. Since the density of warm saline water is more than that of cold fresh water, the warm saline water is found below the layer of cold water around the ice caps. This causes the ice from lower levels of the sea to melt at a faster rate. The center is still in the process of collecting and analyzing new data.

“There is still a lot to be discovered and developed in the field of climate change,” said Holland.