1.5 million homes in the UK at risk of rising sea levels

Action is needed to prevent arctic warming and rising sea levels

by Annette J Beveridge

Imagine parts of the UK lost under rising tides caused through the melting of ice in the Arctic. It is a horrifying thought that parts of the country could be lost in this way.

The displacement of people in those towns or villages may seem unrealistic or far off but up to 1.5 million properties are at risk.

As sea ice melts in the Arctic, the rate at which it disappears will only increase due to the sun’s energy being absorbed by the dark ocean, rather than it being ice and therefore, reflected back.This is known as the albedo effect.

Temperatures in the Arctic are already rising by four times faster than the global average, and this will be devastating for wildlife, as well as for people.

Rising sea levels will lead to the erosion of coastlines around Britain. Whole communities will be affected.

In the coming decades, it is likely that governments of the time will have to make a decision about whether flood defences need to be increased or where flooding is allowed to take place.

One village in Wales is likely to be submerged in future. It is low-lying and the council of Fairborne want residents to leave the area, so that it can be converted back into marshland.

A current in the north Atlantic called the ‘Atlantic Meridional overturning circulation’ (AMOC) provides the UK with mild winters, preventing it from freezing as per countries such as Russia or Canada which are at a similar latitude. Melting ice could destabilise that.

If sufficient levels of freshwater from Greenland glaciers flow into the Atlantic, the temperature and salinity of the ocean could alter leading to the AMOC collapsing.

The UK would become much colder as a result and accelerated warmth would take place in the tropics. This could happen within the next 100 years.

If emissions continue to increase, the melting potential of the Greenland ice sheet is expected to double by the end of this century.

If all of the ice melted on Greenland, global sea levels would raise by 20 feet.

Greater levels of collaboration is required among universities throughout the scientific industry and it is important for international partners to share resources. This would avoid any repetition of work.

But world leaders need to take melting sea ice seriously and prepare in earnest.