On 26/07/2018 18:45, N_Cook wrote:

They and other academics are still putting a linear "fit " to the curve.

Just to be clear, I do think the ice-melt, especially looking 30-50
years ahead, is potentially serious and absolutely needs careful
monitoring by academics and amateurs alike.

But I'd be pretty certain that the professionals are all too well aware
that sea level rise may be slowly but steadily accelerating beyond a
linear trend.

Their problem, however, is that of needing to stick to a simple (ie
linear) model until someone can suggest a credible alternative model
grounded in some physical processes. I dare say that there is a lot of
work going on to develop such a model as - presumably - recorded in the
recent literature (not something I've explored). But an arbitrary
mathematical fit, especially one involving some power terms, is just not
likely to give meaningful results, especially when used to extrapolate
several tens of years into the future.

I don't know your circumstances, but if you're interested and able, why
not go along to one of the sea level rise conferences. Looks like there
was one earlier this July in Liverpool, but others scheduled include:

https://waset.org/conference/2018/08/paris/ICSLRE/home

https://waset.org/conference/2018/08/amsterdam/ICSLRGC

Not looked in detail, but seems a little odd to have two highly related
meetings so close together. MAybe they're looking at different aspects
of the problem.