Original version

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

CrowdScience

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Answering your questions about life, Earth and the universe

We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

CrowdScience: Will mountains shrink as sea levels rise?

Discussion & Talk

Listener Beth in front of the elevation sign at a US National Park

24/05/2024 GMT

Will mountains shrink as sea levels rise?

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, Will mountains shrink as sea levels rise?

Should we re-calculate the height of mountains to account for sea levels rising?

Listener Beth wonders about the elevation signs she sees on mountain roads, that tell us how far above sea level we are. As sea levels rise, will the signs need repainting?

The Blue Ridge Parkway is 469 miles of beautiful vistas, a mountainous road that winds from Virginia to North Carolina in the USA. The route is peppered with elevation signs, telling you how many metres above sea level you are. Which has CrowdScience listener Beth wondering: as we are told that sea level is rising, will all the elevation signs need repainting? 

It’s a task she’s passed over to the CrowdScience team, who like a difficult challenge. The height of an enormous pile of rock like Ben Nevis, or Mount Everest feels unchangeable. But we measure them relative to the nearest patch of sea, which is where our story becomes complicated. Unlike water in a bath, sea level is not equal around the world. The east coast of America has a different sea level to its west coast. And as host Marnie Chesterton discovers in Finland, in some parts of the world the land is being pushed up, so sea level is actually falling. 

In fact, when nothing on earth - not the sea, the shore or the mountains - seems to be stable or constant, the question of what you measure from and to becomes incredibly tricky. But that hasn’t stopped oceanography and geography scientists risking life and fingers to use an ever-evolving array of technologies to find answers. In this show we find out why they care so much, and why we should too.

Featuring: 
Dr Paul Bell – National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool, UK 
Dr Severine Fournier – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology 
Dr Jani Särkkä – Finnish Meteorological Institute 
Khimlal Gautam – Mountaineer and Chief Survey Officer, Government of Nepal 
Dr Derek van Westrum – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA

Presented and produced by Marnie Chesterton 
Editor – Cathy Edwards 
Production Co-ordinator – Liz Tuohy 
Studio Manager – Steve Greenwood 

(Photo: Sea Level Elevation Sign in Death Valley, California. Credit: Mitch Diamond/Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

CrowdScience

Will mountains shrink as sea levels rise?

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

About BBC World Service