On the rise

As glaciers melt in places like Alaska and Greenland, the ground is rising:

Relieved of billions of tons of glacial weight, the land has risen much as a cushion regains its shape after someone gets up from a couch. The land is ascending so fast that the rising seas — a ubiquitous byproduct of global warming — cannot keep pace. As a result, the relative sea level is falling, at a rate “among the highest ever recorded,” according to a 2007 report by a panel of experts convened by Mayor Bruce Botelho of Juneau.

Greenland and a few other places have experienced similar effects from widespread glacial melting that began more than 200 years ago, geologists say. But, they say, the effects are more noticeable in and near Juneau, where most glaciers are retreating 30 feet a year or more.

So Alaska might just be a safer place to live than, say, the Florida coast, in a few decades. Assuming Bobby Jindal doesn't get rid of all that "wasteful" volcano monitoring. :-)