I believe that you are referring to the expansion of water as it freezes; they are referring to its expansion as it warms (after the period when it contracts, but that is a relatively low temperature range anyway), and are stating that due to the thermal inertia of the ocean systems additional warming is expected even if the supposed cause of the warming, primarily CO2, is no longer emitted, and thus the seas will continue to decrease in density and thus expand.
It is a finding because it is not talking about the silly little test tubes played with in schools; the amount of water in those would have relatively little thermal inertia. The amount in the oceans has a considerably larger amount of inertia, but it is difficult to estimate just how much more so. That an estimate has been made and a figure for continued rise in sea levels is actually a rather good application of scientific principles, although I continue to disagree with them on the cause of the recent warming.
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