We've all heard the same, ad nausem: the "warmest month"; the "warmest 3-months"; the "warmest summer"; the "warmest winter"; the "warmest year"; the "warmest decade"; the "warmest century"; and etc. The IPCC's Climategate scientists and NASA/NOAA/NCDC/NCAR scientists habitually use the "warmest" adjective whenever possible.
The primary reason they use the "warmest" adjective is for weapon-of-fear propaganda purposes. If believed, the natural fear progression is then to associate higher temperatures with rising sea levels from melting glaciers and polar ice sheets, which would quickly swamp the coastal areas with a 20-foot increase.
That pretty much sums up the fear and hype strategy of the IPCC and major climate science organizations across the world.
Sooooo.....if Earth has been overheated with all this "warmest" for months, years, decades and centuries, where the frak is the 20-foot increase in sea levels? (click on images to enlarge)
As the above graph reveals, the sea level increase since 2006 is at a meager 0.76 mm per year, which converts to an increase of about 3 inches per century. For the longer period since the inception of satellite measurement, the rate of increase is a +3.1 mm per year, or some 12 inches per century - neither being anywhere close to the 240 inches speculated by global warming alarmists. In addition, long-term tide gauge records show the more recent sea level rise to be only some 6 inches per century.
Alarmists have been attempting to frighten the public into believing that global warming is causing sea level changes, especially significant rises. As the above chart reveals, sea level changes, as measured by satellites, are highly variable. Using sea level data with the seasonal influence removed, it is clear that since 1992 the minor temperature change is not the driving factor for changes in sea levels over the last two decades. Obviously, other forces are at work, likely 100% natural, that cause the long-term variability in sea levels.
Sea level increases have been happening well before the explosion of human CO2 emissions as researchers have proven [Bruce C. Douglas (1997)]. As the above depicts, the increase in sea levels was approximately a total of 7.5 inches between 1900-2000. This data is based on 23 stable tide gauge instrument recordings. The red line is the satellite data superimposed on the historical measurements, which reveals a fairly close match.
Finally, based on peer-reviewed research [Fleming et al. 1998, Fleming 2000, & Milne et al. 2005] this last chart shows the sea level increase from the last glacial period. The scientists clearly documented that sea level increases have been taking place for the last 16,000+ years, and that the past increases were multiple times greater than the world currently is experiencing. It is safe to conclude that the majority of sea level rise over the last two decades is just a continuation of past natural processes, and not a result any human-induced warming as claimed by alarmists.
And those "20-foot" increases? Pure hype and lies, totally void of any empirical evidence. Just the same old, same old from IPCC Climategate scientists and the Goreian alarmists.