Sea Level Rise Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Sea level rise refers to the increased volume of water in the seas and oceans of the world and to the relative increase in height, therefore, compared to the land level. As the sea level rises, seawater covers increasing tracts of land with mostly negative impacts. First, the amount of habitable land decreases for mankind and for animal and plant species. Second, seawater may infiltrate existing fresh water sources and render them less useful or unusable for normal consumption. Third, and often most dramatically, sea level rise of one to three millimeters per year increases the threat from flooding in many coastal areas. Countries such as Bangladesh demonstrate the vulnerability of millions to flooding, with the threats of waterborne disease, malnutrition, and endemic poverty. This rise is unprecedented in recorded human history and, although the figures do not appear to be spectacular, the effects of the steady rises are accentuated in areas with low elevation above current sea level or in low-lying areas.

The causes for the rise in sea levels are twofold. First, global warming has led to the melting of ice at both polar regions and that water is added to the existing bodies of water. Second, excessive extraction of groundwater in some areas, notably in east Asia, has caused the ground level to sink by up to one decimeter or more annually, and this has a similar effect to the rise in sea levels. Scientists are still trying to establish the exact rates at which rises in sea levels are occurring. New research suggests that past estimates of global climate change were too conservatively framed and that such change is intensifying. As ice sheet thawing in places such as Greenland and Siberia releases water from frozen masses, it is increasingly possible that the world will lose significant amounts of land mass.

The financial costs of these changes are not quantifiable, since accurate data and models of future change have yet to be established. However, attempts to do so have been undertaken by government organizations and by industry bodies, including the insurance industry. It has been estimated that, at current rates of rise, the cost of a one-meter increase in the sea level in the United States would range between $270-$475 billion.

Bibliography:

Bruce C. Douglas, Michael S. Kearney, and Stephen P. Leatherman, Sea Level Rise: History and Consequences (Academic Press, 2000);
Julian Dowdeswell, “The Greenland Ice Sheet and Global Sea-Level Rise,” Science (v.11, 2006);
Kelvin S. Rodolfo and Fernando P. Siringan, “Global Sea Level Rise is Recognized, but Flooding from Anthropogenic Land Subsidence is Ignored around Northern Manila Bay, Philippines,” Disasters (v.30/1, 2006);
G. Titus et al., “Greenhouse Effect and Sea Level Rise: Loss of Land and the Cost of Holding Back the Sea,” Coastal Management (v.19/2, 1991).