What does rise in sea level mean?

Question

a 1 meter rise in sea level doesnt sound so bad. i get the picture in my head it means tide will be one meter longer when it is low than it is at the moment. and if it means the sea gets.. taller then it will still only rise by a meter? can someone explain this

Answer 1

Yes a 1 meter rise sounds ok, but think bout New Orleans which is already below sea level.  It will be lost.  The Netherlands is a flat nation and protected by sea walls and d**e's.  If the sea rises by just a meter Holland will be threatened with flooding, along with our coastal areas.  Many animal habitats will be destroyed too.

Answer 2

It means "head for higher ground"!

Answer 3

It's not just the sea: that'll affect things like coastal erosion of course.  But because the sea has different heating and cooling effects to land, the whole weather system will be affected.

By the way, for the person who thinks Tsunamis are caused by global warming: They're generally not! They are seismic waves, caused by undersea earthquakes or landslides.  However, they could in theory be generated by a huge piece of rock falling into the sea, or just possibly by the extra weight of water pushing down on a tectonic plate triggering an earthquake.

Answer 4

Rise in sea level means just that.  Melting of polar ice caps, for example, would cause a devastating rise in sea level.  Many people of the world live near the ocean, withing just a few feet of sea level, so a minor rise could cause catastrophic results.

Answer 5

Think just how many communities are on the margins of the sea. the implications will be very great increace in the chances of catastrophic flooding. Some island and seafront communities will just have to be abandoned if there is a one meter sealevel rise - not sure where the asker is posting from but work out the value of just one major seafront city! Even if sea defences can be built, they are VERY expensive and if they fail, the result is a catastrophy ( Ask someone from New-Orleans) and in many cased, such as in Bangladesh, or large areas of Burma/Myanmarthe vunerability to surge flooding due to tropical storms is already high, increace that by sea level rises and millions are at risk.

Even where the risk of flooding is not a factor due to sea-cliffs a sea level rise can result in increaced erosion so your house with a sea view is at risk of slipping down the cliff.

Answer 6

It means sinking of land.

Answer 7

A one meter rise refers to the height of the tide, not the distance inland.  If you were talking about a near shore location where the land has a slope of 1 % (a gentle slope), the tide would invade an additional 100 meters inland for every meter of rise in sea level.  There are a lot of lowlands in delta environments where the average slope is a lot less than 1 %, so flooding inland for distances of kilometers becomes feasible.

Of course, if you have a place on top of a cliff, you would essentially see no inward invasion.

Answer 8

Because of increasing temperature around the world , due to pollution, industrrries and all that, there is rapid melting of snow in the oceans which causes increase in sea level. Though it is about some inches, it can cause many floods and all that. TSUNAMI is one of its effect.