Sea Science - Above The Water

We know rising sea levels are a threat. But what is new is that Asia is particularly at risk, and surviving this catastrophe is going to change our lives.

- Benjamin P. Horton

340 MILLION PEOPLE are at risk of from flooding from sea-level rise by 2050.

We know that rising sea levels affect every coastal nation. But in the coming decades, the greatest effects will be felt in the Asia region, due to the number of people living in the continent’s low-lying coastal areas.

Eight Asian countries: China, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Japan are home to the most people on land projected to be below average annual coastal flood levels by 2050. Together, these eight nations account for roughly 70 percent of the 340 million people on land facing flooding from sea-level rise by the middle of the 21st century.

There is increasing awareness of the looming impact of climate change on the environment and human life as we know it. Global temperatures are rising, giving rise to more droughts and wildfires, increasing the intensity of storms, causing catastrophic floods, and rising sea levels.

Global sea level has been rising in the 20th and 21st century at an unmatched rate for at least the last 3,000 years. The primary reason is the rise in global temperatures, causing ocean water to expand and land ice to melt.

The waters are only rising faster: From an average rate of one millimetre per year between 1901 and 1971, to 4 millimetres per year between 2006 and 2018.

Unfair Outcomes

Most people will be surprised to learn that just as the surface of the Earth isn’t flat, neither is the ocean.

This means the amount of sea-level rise will vary from place to place.