>We're lay people. The expert consensus is that it exists and caused by humans.

Hi,
This link has some relevant info regarding the subject:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_level_rise

A couple of points to consider.

1. The sealevel 20,000 years ago was some 130M lower than today. The amount of energy exchange to achieve this make man's input look like a flicker in a void.

2. The average mean sealevel over the last 100M years has been 20+ higher than it is today. Although the increase is going to be inconvenient for some, it is nature just returning to is mean average, nothing to do with man.

3. I draw your attention to the data retrieved by the TOPEX/Poseidon Satellite, this was put forward as a confirmation of global warming, as it had shown recent sealevel rises of upto 3mm/year, but finally when the data was compared to actual ground based measurements it was found to be grossly inaccurate, as where it was showing say 2.7mm increase the actual was only 0.9mm.

You have to be carefull about most of the predictions made, as soon as researchers have data that apparently confirms the reasons why they got their research budget allocation they will release the data without doing due process. i.e. check that the data is accurate.

This is a great example of this, as it would have take 2 Minutes to confirm against ground based measurement stations, but no they published the data without checking it.