An inch may not seem like much, but when multiplied by a large amount, it becomes significant. As a result, for every inch of vertical sea-level rise caused by global warming, the ocean pushes 50 to 100 inches onshore. The seas have lessened the effect of people continuing to dump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases absorb more than 90% of the heat emitted by the world’s seas, yet they are causing harm to our oceans. One of the repercussions of climate change is rising sea levels. Since 1880, average sea levels have risen by more than 8 inches (approximately 23 cm), with almost three of those inches added in the previous 25 years. Every year, the sea level rises by.13-inch (3.2 mm.) Sea level rise is quickening, according to new study published on February 15, 2022, and is expected to climb by a foot by 2050. (National Geographic) More challenges and issues arise when the water level rises. To address all of these issues, the United Nations has established 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a plan for a better and more sustainable future for everyone. Poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice are among the worldwide concerns they address. (UN) And SDG #14, protect and sustainably utilize the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development, includes sea level rise. Rising sea levels are endangering coastal towns throughout the world due to global warming since rising water might prove detrimental to life on land, disrupting people’s daily lives and affecting health, economic development, and land loss.

Changes in the ocean will pose a serious threat to distant coastal towns, both in terms of physical changes and the ecosystems we now occupy, as sea levels rise, and enormous glaciers melt as a result of global warming.

Sea level rising 

The rise in sea level results from global warming, raising the status of the world’s seas. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. The water then absorbs the bulk of this heat. Water expands as it becomes warmer. As a result, international ocean levels are increasing. (Sea Level Rising 2020)

What causes it to rise? 

Thermal expansion is one of the primary causes of sea-level rise. Water expands when temperatures rise across the planet because heat energy is transferred to water molecules, causing them to move. This unique movement of the molecules causes the ocean to expand, taking up more space. (Global Sea Levels)

In reaction to rising temperatures, apart from the expanding waters, the melts of land ice – glacier, ice caps, and ice sheets also cause the ocean to rise. Land ice – glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets – is disappearing quicker, contributing water to the world’s seas. As a result, the rate of ice loss has accelerated, and it has increased its contribution to global sea-level rise from just over half of the whole increase from 1993 to 2008 to 75-80% of the total increase between 2003 and 2007. (Sea Levels Around the World, 2007)

Main consequences  

Ocean waters are penetrating coastal locations at an increasing pace as the sea level rises, causing soil erosion and threatening crops, residences, and leisure areas. Researchers have stated that Wetland flooding and aquifer contamination occur as a result of water infesting seashore cities, affecting flora and fauna of each place and resulting in habitat loss for fish, birds, plants, and a range of other species. (Wetland, 2011)

As a result, rising sea level brings heavy rains and intense winds and severe storms, and other significant meteorological phenomena, which can pose a serious threat to areas that may be affected. (Wetland, 2011)

There are hundreds of millions of people living in coastal regions that rising seas will constantly threaten. People will be compelled to quit their houses and migrate if water levels increase, creating a population crisis. “This is referred to as “forced migration” as a result of climate change.” (Wetland, 2011)

Furthermore, seas will swallow low-lying islands and countries as time passes, leading to the extinction of vast land regions and even countries like the Netherlands, the Maldives (WIONEWS), and others.

But how exactly are oceans rising, which kind of ice sheets scientists are worrying about that could melt within a short amount of time that will automatically threaten our lives? The massive ice sheet of Greenland is the focus of sea level rising. The huge ice sheet was holding enough water to raise global sea levels by 7.2 meters. Even if warming remains low in the coming decades, the melting of the Greenland ice sheet is expected to attain unheard of costs in the coming decades, making a considerable contribution to global sea-level rise.

The Hidden Meltdown of Greenland

The huge ice sheets and glaciers of Antarctica and Greenland contain more than 90% of the world’s freshwater ice. Melt waters from this full-size ice storage contribute to rising sea levels as global temperatures gradually rise. If Greenland’s ice melted completely, it may raise sea levels by 7 meters (23 ft). (NASA)

Eric Rignot, a glaciologist from the University of California, Irvine, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, led a team to Greenland in August 2014 to survey ice cliffs along the front borders of three outlet glaciers. The researchers discovered holes at the base of these leading edges, which can destabilize the ice front and improve iceberg calving, the process by which glacier components break off and float away. (NASA)

“In Greenland we have melt fees of a few meters a day in the summer season months,” says Rignot. (NASA)

Rignot’s team discovered that the glaciers that flow into the ocean in Greenland are anchored deeper under sea level than previously thought. Warm ocean currents at deep have the power to wash over glacier sides and damage them. (NASA)

“In polar regions, the top layers of ocean water are cold and fresh,” he explains. “Cold water is much less fantastic at melting ice.” (NASA)

“The real ocean warmth is at a depth of 350-400 meters (about 1312.34 ft (about half the height of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world)) and below. This warm, salty water is of subtropical origin and melts the ice a whole lot more rapidly.” (NASA)

Rignot’s research team is providing critical data for documenting this effect and properly predicting where and when fast-moving glaciers may give way. The team acquired and evaluated 24-hour observations of channel depth, salinity, and temperature as well as their junction with the ice sheet’s coastline region in Greenland. (NASA)

They discovered that portion of the glacier’s stability is dependent on enormous earthen sills that are now safeguarding them. Other glaciers, on the other hand, are being badly undercut beneath the surface, meaning they will collapse and melt faster. (NASA)

How much might we expect from Greenland and Antarctica in terms of rising sea levels?

At the moment, the entire sea degree upward push is around three millimeters (0.12 in) every year (about one-eighth of an inch per year). One-third of that amount originates from Greenland and Antarctica, one-third from glaciers (such as those found in Alaska or the Himalayas), and one-third from saltwater warming. (NASA Frequently Asked Questions)

Greenland and Antarctica will be expected to contribute significant amounts in the future, according to experts. Today’s projections of Greenland and Antarctica’s upward jostle contributions to sea level rise by 2100 total roughly 1 meter (nearly three feet), but totals might be as high as two meters (over 6 feet). By 2300, the rise in sea level caused by these ice sheets might be as much as 5 meters (about 16 feet). (NASA Frequently Asked Questions)

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are expected to continue contributing to rising sea levels for millennia, with the exact amount depending on how humanity responds to global warming. (NASA Frequently Asked Questions)

Some low–lying islands and coastal communities will be more likely to be flooded or even submerged as sea levels rise. Hundreds of millions of people will undoubtedly be relocated as a result of rising floods. Scientists are concerned that several low-lying, small islands scattered throughout the South Pacific Ocean could soon vanish. By 2050, coastal towns like Jakarta were anticipated to be among the most vulnerable to coastal flooding, and it is already happening. As a result, the coasts are home to more than 40% of the world’s population (CNN) Rising sea levels might force up to 187 million people (SA) to relocate.

The quietly disappearing islands

An archipelago of 900 islands situated east of Papua New Guinea, well renowned for its World War II monuments and warm Pacific seas. The Solomon Islands, as they are known, are an area where sea levels are rising three times faster than the world average.

The Solomon Islands were home to the world’s first “sinking islands” in the twenty-first century, when five islands vanished into the sea as sea levels climbed to unprecedented heights.

Only a few years ago, the last of the five islands collapsed into the sea. Six bigger islands have already lost more than 20% of their surface area since then. (LiveScience)

The people, animals, and plants of the Solomon Islands have been forced to seek higher ground as a result of this. In addition to displacing people, increasing sea levels have wreaked havoc on infrastructure and natural resources, wreaking havoc on the Solomon Islands’ economic well-being.

Cities that will be in danger sooner or after

Sea levels are quickly increasing. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the rate of rise has more than doubled, from 0.06 inch (1.4 millimeters) per year for much of the twentieth century to 0.14 inch (3.6 millimeters) each year from 2006 to 2015. (NOAA).

By the turn of the century, NOAA expects that sea levels will have risen by at least one foot (0.3 m) over 2000 levels, while the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believes that they will have risen by 16 to 25 inches (40 and 63 centimeters (approximately 2.07 feet)).

The BBC has called Jakarta, which has a population of over 10 million people (almost half that of New York), the “fastest-sinking metropolis in the world.”

Much of Jakarta, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), might be flooded by 2050. Jakarta’s situation is so bad that it is being supplanted as Indonesia’s capital with Nusantara, a soon-to-be-built city on Borneo’s east coast, about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) from Jakarta.

Displacement of hundreds of millions of people 

Due to increasing ocean levels, 2 billion people – roughly one-fifth of the world’s population – might become climate change refugees by 2100. According to Cornell study published in the journal Land Use Policy in July 2017, those who formerly resided along coasts may suffer displacement and relocation constraints as they seek viable sites inland.

According to the research, 1.4 billion people might be climate change refugees by 2060. By 2100, Geisler estimated that amount to 2 billion.

While rising seas may pose a threat to our life, many are working to discover practical answers. The majority of people who live along the shore must determine whether or not to relocate. As a result of the overflowing floods, people may become refugees and need to find new homes. Rising sea levels can pollute soil and groundwater, putting life further inland at risk. All of these issues will be addressed by hardening existing buildings and other structures against floods, or, in certain circumstances, transferring structures to higher altitudes where they will be safer. (NASA) Furthermore, every people must contribute to the preservation of our habitats so that the world can be a better place.

 

Works Cited

Climate.gov. REBECCA LINDSEY, 19 Apr. 2022, www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-sea-level. Accessed 16 May 2022.

Nasa. Kate Ramsayer, 14 June 2015, www.nasa.gov/specials/sea-level-rise-2020/. Accessed 16 May 2022.

National Ocean Service. /, 8 Mar. 2017, oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sealevel.html. Accessed 16 May 2022.

National Ocean Service. /, 4 Aug. 2022, oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/sealevelrise/sealevelrise-tech-report.html. Accessed 16 May 2022.

Rising seas could result in 2 billion refugees by 2100. Blaine Friedlander, 19 June 2017, news.cornell.edu/stories/2017/06/rising-seas-could-result-2-billion-refugees-2100. Accessed 2 June 2022.

“Sea Level Rise, Explained.” National Geographic, CHRISTINA NUNEZ, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/sea-level-rise-1.

What countries and cities will disappear due to rising sea levels? Joe Phelan, 27 Mar. 2020, www.livescience.com/what-places-disappear-rising-sea-levels. Accessed 2 June 2022.