Record-breaking sea level rise marks fastest in 4000 years, study finds

A new study has warned of record-breaking sea level rise, marking the fastest surge in 4000 years and highlighting the pressing need for action on both local and global level.

Anthropogenic activities and climate change are responsible for this rise, posing serious risk to cities and low-lying coastal areas globally.

As per research report, among all the countries, China faces a “double threat” as its largest and economically important cities are highly vulnerable to sinking.

In the study, scientists from Rutgers University analysed thousands of geological records from ancient coral reefs and mangroves.

According to findings published in the journal Nature, since 1900, global sea levels have surged at an average rate of 1.5 millimetres a year.

Yucheng Lin who led the study said, this pace surpasses any century-long period in the past for millennia.

The research defines the two forces that are responsible for existential threat.

Thermal expansion and receding glaciers are causing the ice sheets in polar regions to melt at alarming levels, thereby leading to sea level rise.

“Getting warmer makes your ocean take up more volume and the glaciers respond faster because they’re smaller than the ice sheets, which are often the size of continents,” said Lin.

“We are seeing more and more acceleration in Greenland now,” he added.

From September 2023 to August 2024, the Greenland ice sheet lost 80 billion tonnes of ice over 12 months, marking the 28th year in a row.

Being the world’s largest freshwater resource, Greenland contains more water that would cause 7.4 metres of global sea rise. Moreover, 6 million are prone to massive coastal flooding.