Washington – A new research from NASA suggests sea levels have risen and could reach as much as three feet over the next century.
Using a 23-year record of satellite data from NASA research sites, they estimate that sea level is rising a few millimeters annually. “Given what we know now about how the ocean expands as it warms and how ice sheets and glaciers are adding water to the seas it’s pretty certain we are locked into at least 3 feet of sea level rise, and probably more. But we don’t know whether it will happen within a century or somewhat longer,” explained the agency.
According to NASA, the rise of sea levels is caused by three main factor. The first is thermal expansion which basically states that as water grows warmer it gets bigger causing the volume to expand. The second factor would be the melting of glaciers and the polar ice caps caused by global warming and greenhouse gases trapped in the atmosphere. The third factor is the loss of ice in Greenland and on the Antarctic continent. Currently, ice sheets at Greenland and Antarctica are vanishing at an extraordinary rate.
The new data from NASA’s satellites, also suggests that population living in coastal areas face higher risk in the coming years. From Tokyo to Miami, anyone who are live in low-lying zones face higher risk.
“If you live on the US East Coast, though, your sea level is rising two or three times faster than average. If you live in Scandinavia, it’s falling. Residents of China’s Yellow River delta are swamped by sea level rise of more than nine inches a year,” wrote NASA in a statement.
Over 190 countries will meet later this year in Paris, to negotiate on how to combat this risky reality. One of the goals of the meeting will be to come to an agreement to ensure that the temperature increase is limited to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century.
Source: NASA