Where I live in the former county of Huntingdonshire is a long way from the sea. But according to some predictions of sea-level rise, it could be a lot closer soon.
In one scenario, with widespread inundation of the Fens, Cambridge could virtually become a coastal city by 2050. London, Cardiff, Blackpool and Hull could all be severely affected. Scenarios like these are alarming and make great media headlines, but what is really going on?
Causes and effects
Sea-level rise is already an observable phenomenon. As glaciers and ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic melt due to global warming, there’s extra water in the oceans. TV images of calving icebergs are all too familiar, and scientists worry that even if warming stopped tomorrow, we may be passing a tipping point where ice loss becomes irreversible. Oceans are also great heat stores, but at warmer temperatures water becomes less dense and expands, further adding to sea level rise. If you live in the south or east of England, you get a triple whammy as the land is already gradually sinking into the sea for entirely unrelated reasons. Insurance companies are seriously worried, not just because the City of London is in a high-risk area.
