Problem Of Rising Sea Levels In The Marshall Islands

Over the last three decades, climate change has evolved dramatically causing a horrific impact on the Earths surface and atmosphere. As a result, sea levels have risen 7mm per year since 1993 in the Marshall Islands (AustralianBureauofMeteorology.com) indicating that the seas around the Marshall Islands are rising at an abnormal rate compared to the global average, at 2.8–3.6 mm per year. The Marshall Islands is a collection wide-spread volcanic islands located in the Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and the Philippines covering over 81.3km with a population of 53,127. The Marshall Islands features the largest settlement of coral reefs, containing marine life, however due to the rising sea levels and warming oceans located around the islands resulting in a huge impact on the marine life. Corals, fish, turtles and seabirds are all affected by climate change occurring in the ocean due to the warming waters, sea levels rising and the oceans acidic.

The large amounts of carbon dioxide (Co2) released into the atmosphere each year, caused a huge impact on the rising sea levels in the Marshall Islands and around the world resulting in the rise of temperatures at an alarming rate. The global increase of temperate has caused a chain reaction of climate events such as sea levels rising. The atmospheric carbon, impacts the Earths temperature of the due to it being the main sauce of greenhouse gas. When visible light from the sun heats the surface of the earth, some of the energy is transmitted back towards the atmosphere in the form of infrared radiation (climatechangeinAustralia.com). Greenhouse gases absorb infrared that would have otherwise passed through the atmosphere and back into space, trapping excess heat causing the Earth to heat at a rapid pace. An impact of the Earth warming, this creates an impact on the sea levels due to when water heats up it expands, known as thermal expansion the this creates an impact on the sea levels as thermal expansion. About half of the century ‘s rise in sea level is attributable to warmer oceans, occupying more space therefore flooding small islands such as the Marshall Islands.

The data displayed from the (AustralianBureauofMeteorology.com) examines the rising sea levels for Kwajalein. Exhibiting that sins 1990 the sea levels have been inconsistent leading up the the drastic rise in meters in 2012. As a result of the rising sea levels in the Marshall Islands this impacts the tides as the Marshall Islands have seen many king tides, the highest being in the January 2011. serious flooding occurred without any strong winds or high waves. In that case it was the highest tide of the year happening with higher sea levels because of climate change. As a result of higher sea levels, more erosion is expected to occurs affecting the underground fresh water quality, natural plants and trees as the soil becomes salty therefore making it harder to grow crops

This data based on the Marshall islands examines the concentration of Co2 in the atmosphere and sea (blue – low emission, green – medium emissions and purple – high emissions). Approximately a quarter of the Co2 of the carbon dioxide emitted from human activities each year is absorbed by the oceans. As the extra carbon dioxide reacts with sea water it causes the ocean to become marginally more acidic. This impacts the growth of corals and organisms that construct their skeletons from carbonate minerals. This data shows that the Co2 is expected to clime affecting the tropical reef ecosystems. Human impacts of burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas causing a huge impact on the environment.