After reconstructing sea level patterns over the last 2,000 years for the first time ever, researchers have found that the dawn of the industrial age initiated an unprecedented rise in waters. But critics complain the study is too narrow.

The rise in sea levels is perhaps the most dangerous consequence of climate change. A majority of the world's population lives in coastal regions, and especially in poorer nations, hundreds of millions of people are threatened with an ever-increasing number of floods.

And the forecasts for sea levels are only pointing in one direction: upwards. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted in its status report from 2007 that, on average, global sea levels could rise by 59 centimeters by the year 2100. In a U.N. report released last week, the estimated rise in sea levels could be between 90 centimeters and 1.60 meters over the course of this century.

Now researchers have reconstructed how sea levels have risen historically, and have found that oceans are now swelling at a faster pace than ever before in the past 2,000 years.