Many places in the world will be adversely impacted by sea level rise as the result of climate change. But countries like the United States, India, China, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Egypt, and the Pacific Islands are some that will be most vulnerable to sea level rise. These countries have exposure from large coastlines and low elevations, some of which are either at or below sea level. The Florida Keys and the southern coast of Louisiana, including New Orleans, are examples of vulnerable areas in the United States. For cities like Miami and New York City on the east coast, sea level rise is two to three times faster than the global average. In Egypt, 95% of the population lives along the Nile River, and in the Netherlands almost 50% of the people live below sea level. China’s city of Shanghai with its huge population is another vulnerable area if temperatures continue rising. Furthermore, sea levels are not rising uniformly around the world. In some areas like the Pacific Islands, the sea is rising much faster.
Scientists have determined that even if the world was now able to end the burning of fossil fuels overnight, major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now inevitable and to date, global heating will cause an absolute minimum sea-level rise of 27 centimeters which is equal to 10.6 inches. By 2050, if emissions are not curbed, the global urban population living in 570 different cities could be at risk of sea level rising and affect 800 million people. The global economic impact from rising seas and inland flooding could reach one trillion dollars. As we have already pointed out in our melting glacier sections, other melting glaciers around the world are exacerbating the rate of sea level rise.
Pakistan has more than 7,000 glaciers. Climate change is melting them into floodwater. As you may recall, in August of 2022, a series of floods devastated the country. The floods inundated about one-third of the country which at the time was home to around 225 million people. The death toll exceeded 1,500, and 7.6 million people were displaced with almost 600,000 people living in relief sites. Summer in Pakistan is monsoon season so heavy rains are expected. But last summer was particularly destructive with water from the melting glaciers combined with the heavy monsoon rainfall, which made conditions even worse and impacted hundreds of thousands of people who were stranded. To make matters even worse, the water did not immediately recede, and the high levels of water lasted a long time.
So, what is going to happen in the United States where almost 40% of our population lives in coastal counties? People like living near water and I don’t blame them – it’s beautiful, peaceful, serene, and may make you feel closer to nature. But living near water can put people at risk of flooding and hurricanes, and with high storm surges and potential flooding from other sources, people can easily become trapped in their homes. Why would I say flooding from “other sources” you may ask? Here in Miami, we have something called “sunny day flooding” because we can have neighborhood flooding when there isn’t a rain cloud in sight. That is because when we have our highest yearly tides, sometimes called “King Tides,” the water in Biscayne Bay is so high that the water pushes upward and overflows through drains, sewers, pipes, etc. As the seas continue to rise, we will likely have more sunny day flooding each year.
Large storms may leave great devastation behind them and create severe financial problems for property owners as well as leaving people stranded or homeless. But here in Florida, people keep flocking to our state and are building beautiful homes on or near the water. Florida’s population has also doubled since 1950, and Florida had the largest net migration of any state between July 2020 and July 2021. Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami anticipate that by 2040, “sea levels are expected to be 10 to 17 inches higher than 2000 levels.” In Florida the sea level is about 8 inches higher than it was in 1950, and over the last 10 years at Virginia Key in Miami, sea level rise has accelerated and is rising by one inch every 3 years. These rates are not uniform throughout the world as some places accelerate faster or slower. By the way, to anyone who may be skeptical about these numbers and figures, scientists are taking measurements every six minutes by satellites and floating buoys, so they have a lot of very accurate information about the changes in sea level. We will have more on sea level rise later. If there is something you would like to write about sea level, please let us know.
References:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/09/rising-sea-levels-global-threat/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/29/major-sea-level-rise-caused-by-melting-of-greenland-ice-cap-is-now-inevitable-27cm-climate?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/04/south-korea-floating-city-climate-change
https://www.c40.org/what-we-do/scaling-up-climate-action/adaptation-water/the-future-we-dont-want/sea-level-rise/
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2022/8/30/23327341/pakistan-flooding-monsoon-melting-glaciers-climate-change
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/3698672-floods-are-trapping-americans-in-more-ways-than-one/
https://www.miamidade.gov/global/economy/resilience/sea-level-rise-flooding.page
https://news.miami.edu/rosenstiel/stories/2021/10/miamis-ocean-scientists-have-been-documenting-sea-level-rise-for-decades-now-they-urge-action-to-save-our-city.html
https://sealevelrise.org/states/florida/
https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/09/1127051
