Environment for Beginners arrow Water Pollution and Solutions arrow How Does the Sea Level Rise and What are the Problems Related to It?
Environment for Beginners

Quotes

"The human brain now holds the key to our future. We have to recall the image of the planet from outer space: a single entity in which air, water, and continents are interconnected." - David Suzuki
 

How Does the Sea Level Rise and What are the Problems Related to It?

PDF Print E-mail

One of today’s prevalent water issues is the rise in sea level. It is mainly caused by two phenomena: global warming and ozone depletion. The water expands as it gets warmer, and also the sea level rises when chunks from ice shelves located in the two poles fall into the water.

Antarctica and Greenland contain the largest amount of ice on land, and when it melts, it falls into the ocean causing a rise in sea level. We can observe the same reaction by piling up cubes of ice in a glass of water. After the ice melts, the water level in the glass is higher then before. It works the same way on Earth. The melting of glaciers over land raises the sea level by approximately one inch per decade and could eventually cover part of the land we have now.

Image
Cities situated near the ocean might experience some problems

The problem goes from bad to worse when we take into consideration that one third of the world population lives in a 60 km range from the coast. In the event of a flood, this massive population would have to move away from the coasts, unless they built a barrier like in the Netherlands. But realistically speaking, this is a very expensive and complex procedure that most countries of the third world wouldn’t be able to put in place.

The rise in sea level would inevitably cause massive migration like never seen before. It would create social and economical conflicts, and even military ones. History shows that massive migration not only causes conflicts between the sedentary and the nomadic, it also spreads disease. World War I is one example where more death occurred after the war due to diseases then during the conflicts in 1914-1918. Now let’s imagine the chaos when one third of the population tries to fit in new areas.

Comments
Add New
Joeffrey Cribbs  - Politics, law, climate change   |2011-11-27 13:48:58
While the Earth has always endured natural climate change variability, we are
now facing the possibility of irreversible climate change in the near future.
The increase of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere from industrial
processes has enhanced the natural greenhouse effect. This in turn has
accentuated the greenhouse "trap" effect, causing greenhouse gases to
form a blanket around the Earth, inhibiting the sun's heat from leaving the
outer atmosphere. This increase of greenhouse gases is causing an additional
warming of the Earth's surface and atmosphere. A direct consequence of this is
sea-level rise expansion, which is primarily due to the thermal expansion of
oceans (water expands when heated), inducing the melting of ice sheets as global
surface temperature increases.

Forecasts for climate change by the 2,000
scientists on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) project a rise in the global average surface temperature by 1.4 to 5.8°C
from 1990 to 2100. This will result in a global mean sea level rise by an
average of 5 mm per year over the next 100 years. Consequently, human-induced
climate change will have "deleterious effects" on ecosystems,
socio-economic systems and human welfare.

At the moment, especially high
risks associated with the rise of the oceans are having a particular impact on
the two archipelagic states of Western Polynesia: Tuvalu and Kiribati. According
to UN forecasts, they may be completely inundated by the rising waters of the
Pacific by 2050.

According to the vast majority of scientific
investigations, warming waters and the melting of polar and high-elevation ice
worldwide will steadily raise sea levels. This will likely drive people off
islands first by spoiling the fresh groundwater, which will kill most land
plants and leave no potable water for humans and their livestock. Low-lying
island states like Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and the Maldives are
the most prominent nations threatened in this way.

"The biggest challenge
is to preserve their nationality without a territory," said Bogumil
Terminski from the University of Geneva.
Anonymous   |2011-09-25 01:55:54
thanks
rajini   |2011-09-18 00:39:31
extremely interesting ! worth reading :)
james  - ice agey   |2011-08-16 21:33:08
awesome hello
Anon  - Thanx   |2011-05-23 11:45:48
helped me for my scinence project(yr 6)
Berta   |2011-04-17 19:31:11
thanks. this helped me with my science essay :)
someone   |2011-03-30 14:57:02
Ice melting in a glass does not raise the water level, because the ice cube
displaces the same amount of mass as though it was a liquid
nandie   |2011-03-15 01:00:22
thankks it really helped 4 my homework
Doug  - Reply to SP - Mis-information   |2011-03-12 11:26:45
The example explains the situation correctly; it is the cubes of ice on top of
the pile, the ones that are not floating in the water that will raise the water
level in the glass when melting.
SP  - Mis-information   |2011-03-12 11:13:05
The water with ice example is plain wrong. The only way melting ice-caps will
cause a rise in sea-level is if ice that is on land, falls into the sea. If
floating ice melts, then there is no rise in sea level. This is very basic
science.... come on man!
Mark Janes   |2011-03-01 08:22:06
Philip really helped me with my homework
Jack Bennet   |2011-03-01 08:21:30
Philip is so cool
Spillip Eliis  - Idiot   |2011-03-01 08:21:03
I am a retarded donkey who knows nothing about this.
JDarns  - Thankss   |2011-03-01 08:08:34
You Just Helped Me Out Big time Mate! nice One :) x x x
Philip Ellis   |2011-02-28 14:05:24
Just to let you know when ice melts it doesnt increase in size because if you
get a glass of coke in a bar with ice in you don't say 'oh no i better drink it
before the ice melts and the coke overflows because the mass of liquid is the
same if iced or not. The only way sea levels rise are by surface ice like
glaciers or ice flats which melt into the oceans but then this only takes up 10%
of the earths surface and as t's at higher altitudes is less likely to actually
melt. Also the amount of water on the planet never really changes because it's a
closed system and sea level change is a natural process and soon we will
experience an ice age and water will actually get locked back up in the poles
Guest user   |2011-02-28 14:00:16
Just to let you know when ice melts it doesnt increase i size because if you get
a glass of coke in a bar with ice in you don't sau oh no i better drink it uo
before the ice melts and the coke overflows because the mass of liquid is the
same if iced or not.
idris  - no   |2011-02-16 14:47:53
that is false information btw. melting ice caps will not contribute to sea level
rise as the amount of displacement has already made it rise so if it melts it
cantrise further
Anonymous  - thank you   |2011-02-13 13:10:57
Thank you very much because you helped me with my homework
Anonymous   |2011-01-20 16:46:10
thnx for the help :)
daniiimsoboredlike  - mrs   |2010-12-01 09:36:54
NO JUST, NO
yusuf mohamed bulle  - educationist\reseacher   |2010-11-08 15:41:45
Am enormously pleased to come into contact with this content as it made both my
teaching and research work easier.
Charles Lobo-Clarke  - Mrs   |2010-11-08 09:39:55
WOW, THANKS! This has been educational to my education. I like this website, it
has been favourited. Thank you for your contribution to my life, this is my
life. I heart you guys. ENVIRONMENTFORBEGINNERS
unknown  - THANKS!   |2010-10-14 11:51:33
THANKS! HELPEDME WITH A GEOGRAPHY PROJECT! :)
Anonymous   |2010-09-24 05:08:50
very helpful THANX!!!!!
SEamjij  - cool   |2010-06-20 22:01:50
Awesome
Callum  - mr   |2010-06-14 10:48:28
this was really helpful it helped me loads with my geography project WOOP :D
sammy  - cool   |2010-04-26 19:42:43
this was real good information and help me with my essay :) xx
Anonymous  - thanks   |2010-04-19 05:18:45
this info really helped me.
its easy to understant
guest user  - thanks   |2010-01-24 12:38:43
thanks for the info i help with my geography assigment
Guest User   |2008-05-01 17:44:15
THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION!
IT HELPED ME WITH AN LANGUAGE ARTS 10 ASSIGNMENT I
HAD RECIEVED TO DO!
Write comment
Name:
Email:
 
Title:
Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.
 
Next >