Global Sea Levels Rise to a Record High in 2024
2024 has set the record as the hottest year ever recorded, and now the ramifications this intense heat has caused are being explored.
One of the issues resulting from these temperatures is the record-high global sea levels from last year. This past year, NASA predicted that the sea levels would rise about 0.43 centimeters throughout the year. However, global sea levels surpassed that by quite a bit, climbing to about 0.59 centimeters, meaning that sea levels rose significantly more than expected in 2024.
This increase in sea levels is due to a few contributing factors. Usually, the largest contribution to this rise is the melting ice sheets and glaciers within the ice-caps. The other major contributing factor is the expansion of water when heated.
In past years, the melting of ice sheets and glaciers has accounted for two-thirds of the rise, while water expansion only accounted for a third. However, the high temperatures of 2024 flipped this data, with water expansion accounting for two-thirds of the rise in sea level.
Every year, global temperatures seem to increase more and more as climate change progresses.
After seeing what the temperatures of 2024 have caused, scientists are concerned about the future. Josh Willis, a sea-level researcher at NASA, describes his concerns, stating, “Every year is a little bit different, but what’s clear is that the ocean continues to rise, and the rate of rise is getting faster and faster.”
The Environmental Protection Agency predicts sea levels could rise as high as 10 to 12 inches more by 2050. The climbing sea levels will result in more common and drastic flooding events, especially within coastal southern US states. Flooding in these areas has increased because of rising sea levels and will continue to if climate change stays on course.
