Global sea level and the Earth's climate are closely linked.
During glacial periods, water is evaporated from the oceans and stored on the continents as large ice sheets and mountain glaciers. Back about 20,000 years ago, global sea level was about 125 meters below what it is today . During the warm intervals on Earth, called interglacial periods, sea levels were about 3 to as much as 20 meters higher than current levels.
