11/23/2023 0 Comments Earthtime sea level rise data sourceIt’s been nicknamed the ‘doomsday glacier’ because without it and its supporting ice shelves, sea levels could rise more than 3-10 feet. For example, the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is disintegrating more quickly than anticipated. There are also likely negative feedback loops that could speed up glacier ice melt, which were not previously accounted for, explains Elena Perez, Environmental Resilience Lead at the World Economic Forum. NASA says melting ice from Antarctica and Greenland have caused about a third of the global average sea level rise since 1993.Īntarctica is losing about 150 billion tons of ice a year, while Greenland is losing about 280 billion tons a year. These are melting ice from glaciers, and seawater expanding because of rises in global temperatures, explains the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This is particularly true where storm surges end up sweeping further inland that they would have done previously. While measuring in centimetres or even millimetres might seem small, these rises can have big consequences. The global sea level has risen by about 21cm since records began in 1880. This 30-year increase would match the total sea level rise over the past 100 years. The US space agency and other US government agencies warned this year that levels along the country’s coastlines could rise by another 25-30 centimetres (cm) by 2050. Sea levels reached a record high in 2021, and NASA says sea levels are rising at rates that are unprecedented in the past 2,500 years. Now satellites carry out this task by bouncing radar signals off the ocean’s surface.īecause local weather conditions and other factors can affect sea level, measurements are taken globally and then averaged out. Between the 1800s and early 1990s, tide gauges attached to structures such as piers measured global sea level, as research organization the Smithsonian Institution explains. Sea level is the measurement of the sea’s surface height. Building and development in coastal areas, driving the expansion of coastal communities, also puts more people at risk. Lost homes, lives and livelihoods are among the worst impacts of rising sea levels.Īnd by 2100, up to 410 million people could be at risk from coastal flooding as the warming climate expands the ocean, causing sea levels to rise even higher.
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