It won’t take long for sea levels to rise by at least six meters. According to a recent study on the matter, governments have to significantly increase their efforts of curbing global warming; otherwise the world’s coasts – from Florida to Bangladesh – will be swamped.
Twenty feet – the approximate equivalent of 6 meters – in sea level rise might not sound like much. However, scientists fear that there’s no going back in this matter, and that whatever the decisions will be in December’s climate summit in Paris, sea levels will continue to rise.
The current study has studied changes in global sea levels and came up with a framework using those changes in order to gain a better understanding of what the future looks like for coastal communities around the world. Analysis showed that the sea has risen with 8 inches since the industrial era has boomed.
Climate Change estimates that, should this rate be sustained, 26 major cities in the U.S. would face flooding crises by 2050. Same projections paint a really dark picture for the costs of the damage caused globally by this situation.
Trillions of dollars are expected to be spent on salvaging the 150 million people who are now occupying land that is predicted to be exposed to frequent flooding or completely submerged by 2100.
Lead study author Andrea Dutton of the University of Florida said that ice sheets seem to disagree with the present climate and the direction it has taken. She also fears that even though governments are developing ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it won’t be enough to stop the thawing and the increased sea levels.
The current goal set by the United Nations for countries who contribute with the most greenhouse gas emissions is lowering temperatures so they are only 2 degrees Celsius warmer than those before the Industrial Age.
But that is still a pipe dream, which might not be enough to keep the massive ice shelves – the doorstops of Antarctica – on land and not contributing to sea levels, which have been gradually intensifying since the 1990s.
Sea-level rise expert Anders Levermann of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who has also authored a study on the matter, said the current research is consistent with what has been recorded in the past.
However, the six-meter rise in sea levels might take another several centuries before happening, in spite of some scientists considering historic evidence pointing to extra speedy shifts. The biggest challenge right now is dealing with the rising levels of carbon dioxide, which is uncharted territory.
Image Source: Ice Shelf