Singapore: Tropical countries will face more puddles from sea level rise due to climate change than other countries, according to new research which is also more than double the number of people expected to be influenced.
Using land height data collected by radiant laser pulses by satellites to earth, scientists identify coastal areas are quite low to make them vulnerable to a one meter increase at sea level – the level of the world is on track to see at 2100.
Water level It is higher likely to cause more damage and disorders from a flood and storm surge.
The team found that 62% of these lowland areas were located in the tropics, with a third of the total in Asia, the research said, published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
At present, the land is vulnerable – at an altitude of less than two meters above sea level – consists of about 1 million square kilometers (386,000 square miles) and is home to 267 million people, found a team.
When sea level rises, the total number of vulnerable land can reach 1.46 million square kilometers in 2100, an area where around 410 million people live today.
Already, the global average sea level increased at more than 3 millimeters per year, accelerated as global warming of melting polar glaciers and ice and expanding the ocean.
Tropical vulnerable is very vulnerable, with a large number of lowland river deltas and strong tropical storms.
For some Asian regions, sea level rise is being exacerbated by land land, as big cities including Jakarta and Bangkok attracting water from underground aquifers.
Losing forests can also make it more difficult for land to absorb rainfall.
“There are also man-made factors such as the loss of forests, drainage for agriculture, poor urban planning driving land survive,” said the study writer Aljosja Hooijer, an environmental scientist at the Dutch Research Institute, Delttares, and National University, and National Singapore.
This study is the first to use topographic data collected using laser technology for more granular elevation data throughout the world on a half meter.
It produces estimates for how many people live in a flood risk zone which is much higher than previous research based on radar measurements with a resolution of 25 meters.
This is also higher than the October 2019 study, which concluded that in 2100, the area which is currently home to 190 million people or more will be influenced by sea level rise.
The new study authors said the study was still ongoing and the method was increasingly improved.
“This global study is the first step and is therefore quite rude.
If you go regional or local, you need a smoother model,” Hooijer said.
“But even with this data, policy makers can begin to make a broad assessment.”