NASA registers drastic rise in sea levels by 2100, an alarm for coastal cities
New Delhi : In a recent study by NASA, it has been claimed that the sea levels will show a drastic rise by 2100. The rise in sea levels can go up to 65 centimetres in the next 80 years, leaving future of coastal cities in danger.
The details of the findings have been revealed in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This is almost certainly a conservative estimate," said Steve Nerem, Professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder, who led the NASA Sea Level Change team that conducted the study.
The primary reason behind the increase in sea levels has been indicated as the climate change. The findings are based on the data collected by NASA and European satellite in last 25 years.
"Our extrapolation assumes that sea level continues to change in the future as it has over the last 25 years. Given the large changes we are seeing in the ice sheets today, that is not likely," Nerem said in a statement.
The researchers said that the speed of the acceleration can be affected by geological events such as volcanic eruptions or by climate patterns such as El Nino and La Nina. They used climate models and other data sets to account for the volcanic effects and to determine the El Nino /La Nina effects, ultimately uncovering the underlying rate and acceleration of sea level rise.