Scientists set 1863 as the date for the beginning of sea level rise

A deep understanding of the major changes that have occurred in the phenomenon of rising sea levels in various regions of the world will allow us to prepare effective and accurate plans to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.

Environmental experts said, according to a new study, that the abnormal rise in sea levels due to climate change likely began in 1863, that is, at the height of the industrial revolution that the world had not known before.

In their study , which was published in the journal Nature Communications on February 18, the experts relied on a global database on sea level rise over the past two thousand years, compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Administration) (NOAA).

Experts from the International Platform for Climate Change (IPCC) and researchers from Rutgers University in the United States and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore participated in this study.

Beginning in America

Sea level rise is one of the most important indicators of climate changes that the world is currently aware of, despite the fact that the phenomenon existed before and was described as natural because it did not exceed 0.4 millimeters per year in many coasts of the world.

However, it took an accelerating trend with the beginnings of the industrial revolution and the accompanying rise in temperatures and melting ice, as the phenomenon became worrisome among scientists who began sounding the alarm since the mid-20th century, according to a press release published on the “Eurek Alert” website. Alert).

Scientists noted that the beginnings of this phenomenon were precisely in areas of the mid-Atlantic and America in particular, in the period between 1872 and 1894, and then years later in Canada and Europe, in the period between 1930 and 1964.

According to the details of the study results, the sea level rise before the industrial era ranged between 0.2 and 0.4 millimeters per year, which is the normal picture. But the phenomenon reached alarming levels in the 20th century, reaching 1.4 millimeters per year in some areas during the period between 1940 and 2000.

In contrast, researchers say that the icebergs began to expand and increase in size remarkably starting from the 13th century, and reached their climax in the beginning of the 16th century, and stopped expanding, and then began to melt in the middle of the 19th century.

We need an intervention speed

Study supervisor Jennifer Walker of the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University said, "We can now assert that sea level rise was very rapid from 1940 to 2000, a period of 60 years that was more rapid than any previous period during the past 20 centuries. .

The researcher added that a deep understanding of the major changes that have occurred in the phenomenon of rising sea levels in various regions of the world will allow us to prepare effective and accurate plans to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.

In a question about the situation in the Mediterranean Basin, which is currently considered one of the regions most affected by climate change, Jennifer Walker answered - in a brief statement to Al Jazeera Net via e-mail - "Our study focused largely on the northern regions of the globe because they are the regions where the phenomenon of rising water level.

As for the Mediterranean region, we focused on Croatia and Palestine, and the region is not much different from the rest of the regions in terms of their impact on climatic changes. The situation is global and needs prompt intervention.”