Atkinson Sea Level Rise Article Finds a National Audience

A commentary article about sea level rise written by Old Dominion University oceanographer Larry Atkinson for the Fredericksburg (Va.) Free Lance- Star has been distributed over the McClatchy-Tribune News Service and republished by newspapers such as The Miami Herald, Kansas City Star, and the Olympian of Olympia, Wash.

Atkinson, who is coordinating the ODU Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative, said he had heard from a friend who saw his commentary on The Herald website soon after it was posted on Monday. "I was told that it would be made available to a large number of newspaper over the McClatchy-Tribune News Service, but I have no way of knowing how many of the newspapers will use it," he said.

The commentary originally was written by Atkinson at the request of an editor at the Free Lance-Star. It explores "what is really happening and what we should do" about sea level rise.

To see the commentary in The Miami Herald, go tohttp://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/04/2149780/the-sea-level-is-rising-and-the.html.

The article notes that Atkinson is ODU's Slover professor of oceanography and that he is leading the university's Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative, which is "designed to identify the multi-faceted impact that climate change and rising sea levels will have on" heavily populated coastal regions.