Number 207 (Story #2), December 15, 1994 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein A GLOBAL SEA LEVEL RISE has been detected by the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite. Speaking at last week's meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, scientists from the U.S.-French project announced that the average ocean height had risen 3 mm each year since late 1992. The rise may be due to a longterm trend such as an increase in the melting of glaciers, or to a shorter-term phenomenon such as El Nino effects in the Pacific. If the latter, then sea levels would shortly decline again. The TOPEX/Poseidon satellite, launched in August 1992, views the face of the ocean with carefully timed radar beams. Designed to study ocean currents, the craft has been able to monitor sea levels because of a higher than expected accuracy in altimetry. (Science News, 10 December 1994.)