13 July 2009

What does a 1 metre sea level rise mean?

If a 1 metre rise in sea level doesn't sound like much, consider this: 60 million people live within 1 metre of mean sea level, a number expected to rise to 130 million by 2100.

Much of this population lives in the nine major river deltas in south and southeast Asia.  Parts of countries such as Bangladesh, along with some island nations like the Maldives, will simply be submerged.

According to a 2005 report, a 1 metre rise in sea level will affect 13 million people in five European countries and destroy property worth $600 billion, with the Netherlands the worst affected.  In the UK, existing defences are insufficient to protect parts of the east and south coast, including the cities of Hull and Portsmouth.

Besides inundation, higher seas raise the risk of severe storm surges and dangerous flooding.  The entire Atlantic seaboard of North America, including New York, Boston and Washington DC, and the Gulf coast will become more vulnerable to hurricanes.  Today's 100-year storm floods might occur as often as every four years - in which case it will make more sense to abandon devastated regions and towns than to keep rebuilding them.

The above extract is taken from New Scientist, 4 July 2009
"Going, going..." by Anil Ananthaswamy (p27-31)