Study predicts how much the sea level can rise in the coming years
The coming sea-level rise is inevitable and equivalent to that recorded in the last century. Experts estimate that it could reach nearly a foot.
The rise in sea level is one of the most alarming consequences that climate change is leaving in its wake. In the last 20 years it has suffered an exponential growth that has been setting off alarms bells around the world. And, far from subsiding, it seems that the melting will continue to increase.
A recent study published in the journal Nature has concluded that, in the coming years, the melting of the Greenland island alone will cause an inevitable rise of about 25 centimeters ( 10 inches) in sea level . And, although at first glance, the figure may seem minimal, we are faced with a rather alarming figure.
This is due to several reasons. The first of these is the one we mentioned before: it is an inevitable fact, given that, even if all of today greenhouse gas emissions were completely paralyzed, the thaw would happen all the same.
The second reason is that that 25 centimeters of sea level rise that researchers have predicted for the not-too-distant future is the same increase in volume of water that has been recorded over the last century, which is also fruit of the thawing ice caps.
In this sense, as a result of this growth, the people who live on islands and coastal areas, especially in the lower regions of the coast, are going to notice a series of consequences. These will range from more frequent storms to multiple adverse phenomena during the tides.
Rise could happen within 30 years
It is unknown how long it will take for the melting of the ice indicated by the researchers to occur. However, another study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States (NOAA) pointed out in 2017 that in the next three decades the United States will experience a rise in sea level equal to the one that has been experienced over the last 100 years.
What’s more, the NOAA administrator, Rick Spinrad, also warned that this increase would also happen regardless of drastically cutting carbon emissions, in statements collected by the National Geographic.