Washington: As to NASA’s announcement on Thursday, there was an almost four-fold increase in global average sea levels between 2022 and 2023, measuring approximately 0.3 inches (one-third of an inch). The agency attributed this “significant jump” to a severe El Nino and a warming environment.
The first satellite to launch in 1992 and the most recent in 2020 provided the data for the analysis led by NASA, which is based on more than 30 years of satellite observations.
Since 1993, the water level has increased by about four inches overall. Additionally, the rate of rise has quickened, more than doubling from 1993’s 0.07 inches per year to the present 0.17 inches per year.
“We are on track to add another 20 centimeters (eight inches) of global mean sea level by 2050, given the current rates of acceleration,” stated Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, the director of the NASA ocean physics program in Washington and the sea level change team.
According to her, there will be twice as much change in the next three decades as there was in the previous century, meaning that flooding will become significantly more often and destructive than it is now.
The El Nino meteorological impact, which took the place of the La Nina in 2021 and 2022 and caused the sea level to rise by about 0.08 inches, is the direct cause of the spike.
El Nino refers to the equatorial Pacific’s warmer-than-average ocean temperatures.
