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The seas are rising all around the world
The ice, melting from land areas around the world, is flowing into the oceans, causing the level of the seas to rise.
Also a warming ocean expands, just like water in a saucepan heating up, which forces the sea’s level to rise even higher.
20 cm
Sea level has risen about 20 cm since 1900.
But the rate is accelerating – It’s now rising more than twice as fast as it was rising last century.
Tuvalu in the South Pacific
Rising sea levels are already threatening regions across the world.
This is Tuvalu, in the South Pacific, which has already lost one of its islands – it vanished under the sea in 1997!
Waves often sweep over part of the island, leaving islanders ankle deep in sea water.
And already some of Tuvalu’s 11,500 islanders have left – the first climate refugees.
In the coming decades much of the nation could disappear under water.
30 – 60 cm
By 2100 sea level is likely to rise 30-60 cm. And that’s if green house gas emissions are sharply reduced.
1 metre
If global emissions are not greatly reduced, then by 2100 with rising emissions, sea level could increase by 1 metre.
80% of the 1200 islands of the Maldives are less than 1 metre above sea level.
And alarmingly, around 125,000 years ago when the world had warmed to the same temperature as today, sea level was 6 to 9 metres higher – 20 to 30 ft higher than now !!
This potentially means that sea level could rise by many metres in the centuries to come based on our current temperature increase of just 1° C.
Yet, we are on course to raise the Earth’s average temperature much higher than this.
Bangladesh
Major regions around the world will be inundated
in the centuries to come.
Currently 680 million people live in the low lying coastal areas that are already suffering flooding.
Up to one billion people are expected to live in these low lying areas by 2050 !
Major cities will also flood: this is Venice in 2018 with floodwater 1.56m high.
In 2019 it was worse – the worst in 50 years – 1.87m deep!
Other cities have also already flooded: Jakarta, Kolkata (Calcutta), New Orleans and Miami.
Mumbai, Shanghai, Tokyo and New York are also threatened.
These are just a few of the 136 port cities globally at risk.
Economically it’s just as bleak:
Taking the cities most exposed to coastal flooding, which includes amongst others, Miami, New York-Newark, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Bangkok – the value of assets exposed today is over us$3 trillion.
By 2070 the total value of assets at risk, is projected to be: us$35 trillion! or almost 10% of global GDP!
And even once greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, ice sheets will keep melting and sea level will keep rising for hundreds of years ……. for hundreds of years …