Sea Level Rise alarming along the Indian Coastline, at 1.7 mm per year

November 22, 2019 7:19 PM | Skymet Weather Team

In the last 50 years, sea levels have seen an average rise of about 1.7 mm per year, which is around 8.5 cm in the last five decades. The sea level rise due to climate change cannot be attributed with complete certainty.

The data has been collected at 10 Indian ports, and has indicated that the highest annual increase has been at Diamond Harbour in West Bengal, which is at 5.16 mm per year.

If the Indian sea level is compared to the global data of annual sea level rise, it is almost half as of now. The global sea level rise is currently at 3.6 mm each year. After Diamond Harbour Kandla has seen the sea level rise at 3.18 mm per year, Haldia 2.89 mm, Port Blair 2.2 mm, Okha 1.5 mm, Kochi 1.3 mm, Paradeep 1 mm, Visakhapatnam 0.9 mm, and Mumbai 0.7 mm.

These figures have not been taken during the same time, or for a similar durations, for all these ports. The impact of these sea level rise can only increase the inundation across coastal areas during floods, Tsunamis, etc.

The rate of increase cannot be directly attributed to Climate Change as there is no available data on land subsidence or emergence.

Image Credit: MoneyControl

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