ഉയരുന്ന സമുദ്ര നിരപ്പ്-

4-feet sea level rise by 2100 could threaten
ഗോവ, ലക്ഷദ്വീപ്

A new report by the United States Geological Survey suggests that the world faces “the possibility of much more rapid climate change than previous studies have suggested.” The report, commissioned by the US Climate Change Science Programme, says that in the light of recent ice sheet melting rates, global sea levels could rise as much as 4 feet (1.2 metres) by 2100!
The report is based on the latest published evidence on four specific threats for the 21st century. It has surveyed studies that were not available to the United Nation’s (UN’s) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report, 2007, which explored similar questions.
The IPCC had projected a rise of no more than 1.5 feet by 2100. But satellite data over the last two years show the world’s major ice sheets are melting much more rapidly than previously thought. The Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are losing an average of 48 cubic miles of ice a year, equivalent to twice the amount of ice in the entire Alps.
It seems the models used by the IPCC did not factor in the fact that warmer ocean water under coastal ice sheets accelerates melting.
What does this mean for the approximately 600 million people living in low lying coastal areas? The world’s top tourist destinations that could face problems include coral islands like the Maldives and Lakshadweep – many of whose islands are less than one metre above sea-level – coastal destinations like Goa (a quarter of the State’s coastal areas is low-lying), Florida, New Orleans as well as the Mekong Delta in South-East Asia.