According to scientists at the universities of Edinburgh, Leeds and University College London, global warming is now occurring at a faster rate than ever before. Directly linked to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, the temperature of the atmosphere is rising – causing ice to melt and sea levels to rise drastically. The same research predicts that sea levels could rise by a total of 1 metre by the end of the century. To put that into perspective, “every centimetre of sea-level rise means about one million people will be displaced from their low-lying homeland”, according to Andy Shepherd, an Earth Observation professor at Leeds University.
Sea levels are now rising about 8mm each year due to global warming. This is a staggering statistic given that this rate has more than doubled since the period between 1993 and 2014, when sea levels were rising around 3mm annually.
And seeing as 2020 is turning out to be the hottest year on record for the UK, things aren’t looking great. If not enough is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally, many low-lying cities near the coast, such as New York and Amsterdam, may well be underwater by 2100.
