Land subsidence is a factor as preparations are made for rising sea levels and strengthening storms. Human infrastructure, including buildings and groundwater extraction, increases vulnerabilities.
Even a small rise in sea level can have big impacts on coastal properties, so we must do all we can to limit the changes while taking them into account in coastal land-use planning.
Perce, Que. is one of many areas in Canada at risk of coastal erosion. Nature-based solutions may help.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
As seas rise, it is clear that traditional coastal defence approaches are unable to keep pace. Nature-based solutions offer considerable potential to protect coasts, people and biodiversity.
Rising seas are pushing coastal ecosystems to the limit of endurance. Now international research reveals a “tipping point” will be reached if we allow more than 2 degrees of global warming.
Richard Bates and Alun Hubbard kayak a meltwater stream on Greenland’s Petermann Glacier, towing an ice radar that reveals it’s riddled with fractures.
Nick Cobbing.
Glaciologists are discovering new ways surface meltwater alters the internal structure of ice sheets, and raising an alarm that sea level rise could be much more abrupt than current models forecast.
If left unchecked, the complete melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet would cause a global sea level increase of 3.3 metres in the distant future.
(Shutterstock)
A new analysis of deep soil sediments accumulated in the mangroves of Pohnpei and Kosrae islands reveals a potentially different history of human arrival in this oceanic region.
What’s the message between the lines of Tuvalu’s proposal to move to the metaverse?
Scott Van Hoy/Unsplash
Rising sea levels due to climate change are already having severe impacts on the nation of Tuvalu. It proposes to build a digital replica of itself in the metaverse. Could it be done?
Researchers from the University of Oslo have drilled to the bottom of the Kongsvegen glacier. Find out why and how they are listening to the destabilisation of Arctic glaciers: The MAMMAMIA project.
A turbulent melt-river pours a million tons of water a day into a moulin, where it flows down through the ice to ultimately reach the ocean.
Ted Giffords
Thwaites Glacier’s ice shelf appears to be splintering, and scientists fear it could give way in the next few years. A polar scientist takes us on a tour under the ice to explain the forces at work.
The ocean retains heat for much longer than land does.
Aliraza Khatri's Photography via Getty Images
If fossil fuel burning stopped, emerging research suggests air temperatures could level off sooner than expected. But that doesn’t mean the damage stops.
A new analysis, using 15 years of autonomous underwater measurements and simulations from the latest global climate models, refined our estimate of future ocean warming and sea level rise.
The IPCC report has laid out some alarming sea level projections for the future. But the relationship between sea level rise and real-world risk is complex.
Managing Director, Triple Helix Consulting; Chief Executive Officer, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research; Professorial Fellow, ANU Fenner School for the Environment and Society, Australian National University