Sea Level
Due to Climate Change
Rise
Submitted By:
Kamlesh Gade
Semester 2 | M. Arch. Urban Design
Pillai College of Architecture
What is Sea Level Rise?
• The term sea-level rise generally designates the average
long-term global rise of the ocean surface measured from
the centre of the earth (or more precisely, from the earth
reference ellipsoid), as derived from satellite
observations. Relative sea-level rise refers to long-term
average sea-level rise relative to the local land level, as
derived from coastal tide gauges.
• Global warming has a few major effects on the oceans. As
water gets warmer, it expands. And as glaciers and ice
caps in places like Greenland and Antarctica melt, they
add water to the ocean. That all causes sea levels to go
up.
• Global average sea levels have risen roughly 19
centimeters (7.5 inches) since the 19th century, after
2,000 years of relatively little change. The rate of sea-
level rise has continued to increase in recent decades:
Contributions to sea-level rise
• The three main causes of rise in sea levels are the rising global
average temperatures cause an increase in the ocean’s volume
• thermal expansion of the oceans contributed 42% to sea level
rise; the melting of temperate glaciers, 21%; Greenland, 15%;
and Antarctica, 8%
• The melting ice sheets contribute to the rising ocean volume
• And the melting of higher altitude glaciers
Ice Sheets and Glaciers
• The Greenland ice sheets and glaciers melting are the
largest contributors to the rising sea levels from ‘land
ice sources’ accoundting for 71 % or 1.32 mm during
the 2012-16 period.
• A study published in 2017 concludes that Greenland’s
peripheral glaciers and ice caps have crossed an
irreversible tipping point in 1997 and will continue to
melt.
• A 2018 study estimates that ice loss across Antarctica
was 43 gigatons per year during 1992-2002 but has
accelerated to an average of 220 Gt per year from
2012-2017.
• The East Antarctic Ice Sheet has enough ice to raise sea
levels by 53 m
India and sea-level rise
• According to a paper on the same topic by A.S.
Unnikrishnan, [Link] and M.R. Ramesh Kumar at
National Institute of Oceanography, Goa (supported by
tidal gauges across 20 locations around India).
• Source: [Link]
• Sea levels in India are rising at the rate of 1.3 mm per
year in Mumbai, 1.7 mm at Kochi and as high as 5.7 mm
at Kolkata.
• Future (global) Projections(global) indicate about 0.48 m
(A1B) by the turn of the century.
• Return level estimates using storm surge model driven by
RCM indicate higher flood risks associated with storm
surges along the southern part of the east coast of India,
where tidal ranges are low.
Case Study: Deobagh in Malwan
• Shrikant Karlekar, who heads the geography department at
SP College in Pune and specializes in coastal geography, has
been monitoring geomorphological changes along the
Konkan coast from Dahanu.
• Their studies reveal the sea level rise has been mostly
gradual, with periodic episodes of a sudden rise. The most
recent episode was on December 29, 2009, when the high
tide rose by 4 cm near Ratnagiri town. The previous year on
the same day the rise was 2 cm said Karlekar. In recent years
the sea level has risen at a much faster pace than in the early
years.
• The five-six cm rise translates into the salt water intruding up
to one kilometre inland, damaging mangroves, eroding
beaches and filling creeks with sand and grit from erosion
• The village has lost about 32 hectares (ha), mostly valuable
coconut groves, to erosion because of two reasons. One, the
rising tides and two, the rising level of the Karli creek. The
village is a strip of land extending into the sea, with the creek
to its south and the sea to its north and west.
• This includes about 500 coconut trees, saru and nirgudi
(Vitex negundo) plantations and space for drying fish.
Case Study: Norfolk, Virginia, USA
• Norfolk, Virginia, is on the front lines of climate change. With
the highest rate of sea-level rise on the US East Coast, 4.5
mm per year, it has been ranked by the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development as 10th among the
world’s port cities whose assets are at risk from rising seas.
• Sea level in Norfolk has risen 46 cm in the past 100 years.
About 20 cm of that is attributable to the global rise in sea
level
• In June 2014 the cities and federal agencies formed the
Hampton Roads Sea Level Rise Preparedness and Resilience
Intergovernmental Planning Pilot Project.
• Sea-level rise and storm surges have eroded beaches used
for training troops at the Oceana and joint expeditionary
bases, Rios says, and more than $10 million has been spent
to replenish sand.