The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has reported that last year, the level of the world’s oceans rose to an unexpected height. As a result, hundreds of cities around the globe are now at risk of flooding. Previously, NASA had predicted that water levels would increase by 0.43 centimeters in 2024. However, measurements revealed that last year’s rate of sea level rise was actually much higher, with the sea level increasing by 0.59 cm. According to agency experts, this surprising outcome was driven by an exceptionally strong warming of the oceans combined with the melting of land ice, particularly glaciers. “The rise we observed in 2024 was higher than we anticipated. One thing is clear: ocean levels continue to rise, and the rate of increase is accelerating,” stated Josh Willis, a sea level researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Since 1993, the level of the world’s oceans has risen by a staggering 10.1 cm. If water levels continue to rise at this pace, hundreds of densely populated cities worldwide could find themselves underwater. In recent years, about two-thirds of the increase in sea level has been attributed to the melting of ice sheets and glaciers, while one-third is due to ocean warming. However, in 2024, these factors switched places, claims Nadia Vinogradova-Shiffer, head of the physical oceanography programs and the Integrated Earth Observatory at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. “As 2024 became the warmest year on record, the Earth’s oceans expanded, reaching their highest levels in the last three decades,” she explained.
Using a fleet of satellites to monitor the world’s oceans, NASA tracks sea level changes globally. Over the past 30 years, the annual rate of sea level rise has more than doubled. And the situation is likely to worsen, according to the Daily Mail. Given the current rate of sea level rise, NASA researchers predict that by 2040, it could increase by another 7 cm. This means that hundreds of coastal cities and towns are at risk of being submerged. In Europe, this prospect primarily threatens much of the Netherlands and the Italian city of Venice. While the majority of U.S. territory will remain safe, several areas along the southern and eastern coasts, including densely populated Galveston, New Orleans, and Charleston, are at risk. Bangkok in Thailand, Basra in Iraq, and Navi Mumbai in India are also in the danger zone.
Richard Allan, a professor of climatology at the University of Reading in the UK, asserts, “Sea level rise is a disaster that is currently creeping up on us slowly but relentlessly. Low-lying coastal regions, including densely populated cities like Miami, Mumbai, Shanghai, and Tokyo, will be affected this century and for many centuries to come.” He added, “In the distant future, large-scale adaptation to rising sea levels will likely be unavoidable, and only rapid achievement of net-zero carbon emissions can mitigate the costs and scale of adaptation to the encroaching ocean.”