According to a new study from European researchers, sea levels are rising three times as quickly as they were 25 years ago, placing hundreds of millions of people living in coastal areas at risk.<br/><br/>S'nke Dangendorf, an Oceanographer with the University of Siegen, which published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, charted the increases in sea levels over the 20th century until 2012.<br/><br/>During the majority of the 1900s, sea levels rose at an average rate of 1.1 millimeters a year. New Study Shows Sea Levels Could Rise By 9 Feet in 80 Years. A United Nations panel on climate change warned that they expected sea levels to climb between 12 and 39 inches by the year 2100.