How rapidly do beaches disappear when the Antarctic ice sheets melt? Are the changes abrupt or smooth? What happens to fragile shoreline ecosystems?
And how might such events occur differently in the 21st century, now that the rising waters are attributed to manmade greenhouse gases and global warming?
The quest for answers starts with a 285-horsepower drilling rig that churns for hours on end, bringing up a variety of clues about past sea levels - evidence contained in fossils, in the chemistry of the water trapped in ancient sediment, and in the nature of the clay and sands themselves.
Kenneth G. Miller, a Rutgers University geologist, speaks loudly in order to be heard over the steady hum of the drill.
"This is what we think is going to be the home run for understanding how fast sea level can change in this area," he says of the project.
There is no question that the world's oceans are rising - by a few millimeters each year, on average, according to satellite measurements - and recent research suggests that they are starting to rise faster. Some scholars predict an increase of more than three feet by the end of the century, an amount that would dramatically change the coastline, lead to flooding, and endanger aquifers that are a critical source of drinking water.
The New Jersey project is led by Gregory Mountain, also of Rutgers, and Jean-Nol Proust of the University of Rennes, France. It is part of the 24-nation Integrated Ocean Drilling Program.
The platform is actually a boat, with three legs that are pulled up in order to sail. The expedition went to sea from Atlantic City in late April, drilling at three separate sites off South Jersey, and is expected to return this week.
Life on the drilling platform has its own unique rhythm, sort of like a small-scale assembly line whose goal is not manufacture of a product, but the acquisition of knowledge.
