GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Melting Arctic sea ice does not contribute directly to sea level rise.

Detailed explanation-2: -Hot spots include the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast, Asia, and islands. The risk comes not only from rising sea levels due to ice-melt, and the expansion of ocean water as it warms, but to increasing storm surges and high-tide flooding.

Detailed explanation-3: -First, glaciers and ice sheets worldwide are melting and adding water to the ocean. Second, the volume of the ocean is expanding as the water warms. A third, much smaller contributor to sea level rise is a decline in the amount of liquid water on land-aquifers, lakes and reservoirs, rivers, soil moisture.

Detailed explanation-4: -Consequences. When sea levels rise as rapidly as they have been, even a small increase can have devastating effects on coastal habitats farther inland, it can cause destructive erosion, wetland flooding, aquifer and agricultural soil contamination with salt, and lost habitat for fish, birds, and plants.