Sea level rise is accelerating more and more

melting polar ice caps

As mentioned on other occasions, the sea level will not rise gradually or steadily as time progresses. If the concentrations of greenhouse gases continue like this, the rise in sea level along with the temperatures of the planet will be increasingly rapid.

A study has analyzed the growth of sea level over time and has concluded that it increased in 2014 50% faster than in 1993. What caused the sea level to rise so fast?

Melting polar ice caps

melting north pole

The level of the oceans is rising faster and faster. In addition, there are areas that, due to the presence of extreme meteorological phenomena such as hurricanes and tropical storms, push sea water inland and leave many coastal areas uninhabitable.

The study has found the reason why the sea level is rising more and more quickly. It is about the melting of the Greenland ice cap. The increase in global average temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities it is causing 25% of the increase in the speed of sea level rise. 20 years ago, the melting of Greenland only caused a rise in sea level of 5%.

This can make us reflect on the speed with which natural events are taking place. We are talking about the fact that in just 21 years, the pace of Greenland's melting is getting faster and faster. It is estimated that by the year 2050, There will no longer be ice in summer at the North Pole. This could mean the disappearance of millions of coastal cities around the world.

In 2014, the level of the oceans rose about 3,3 mm / year versus 2,2 mm / year in 1993, specify the researchers in the journal Nature Climate Change. These conclusions of the work are quite important since they make a fairly prudent projection of the rise in sea level in the future. It is estimated that by the end of the century, an increase of 60 to 90 centimeters is expected.

Sea level rise evidence

The evidence that the melting of Greenland and Antarctica is accelerating sea level rise is very compelling and evident. In addition, Greenland alone contains enough frozen water to raise the level of the oceans by seven meters, so the danger of the total melting of these ice caps is enormous. Most scientists who study melting and rising sea levels estimate that by the end of the century it will surely have grown by more than a meter.

In the early 1990s, half of the increase was explained by dilation due to warming, compared to 30% 20 years later, according to the researchers. Greenland contributes to this rise today with 25% against 5% two decades ago. This study has helped for the first time to get two different methods to be able to measure sea level.

Methods for measuring sea level rise

there is less and less ice and the sea level rises

The first method of measuring sea level is to examine the contribution to this rise of three elements: ocean dilation due to global warming, changes in the amount of water stored on land and melting ice from glaciers and the ice cap in Greenland and Antarctica.

On the other hand, the second method uses satellite altimetry. This is measuring the distance between the satellite and the sea surface. In this way, if the distance decreases, it is that the sea level has risen. Until now, the data provided by satellite altimetry showed little change in the last 20 years.

As you can see, the rise in sea level must be studied in depth since there are many disasters that it can cause in coastal areas and in the economy of many countries.


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