"The rise in sea level is accelerating", expert warns ahead of IPCC oceans report

Record ID: 1433325

  • Title: "The rise in sea level is accelerating", expert warns ahead of IPCC oceans report
  • Date: 25th September 2019
  • Summary: MONACO (SEPTEMBER 24, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CLIMATOLOGIST AND CO-CHAIR OF IPCC WORKING SESSION, HANS-OTTO PORTNER, SAYING: "We can only minimize the changes that these systems are seeing by reducing emissions, reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases and thereby minimizing climate change."
  • Embargoed: 9th October 2019 10:09
  • Keywords: storms Hans-Otto Portner extreme weather COP 21 Paris agreement oceans climate change cryosphere report on oceans IPCC
  • Location: MONACO / GREAT BARRIER REEF, AUSTRALIA / LOS CABOS, BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR, MEXICO / BEIJING AND XUANHUA, CHINA/ PARIS AND LE BOURGET, FRANCE / ARCTIC OCEAN
  • City: MONACO / GREAT BARRIER REEF, AUSTRALIA / LOS CABOS, BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR, MEXICO / BEIJING AND XUANHUA, CHINA/ PARIS AND LE BOURGET, FRANCE / ARCTIC OCEAN
  • Country: Monaco
  • Topics: Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVA004AY5P1DZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: PLEASE SEE 3163-CLIMATE-CHANGE/OCEAN SENT ON SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 FOR IPCC NEWS CONFERENCE
    Scientists behind a landmark study of the links between oceans, glaciers, ice caps and the climate delivered a stark warning to the world on Wednesday (September 25): slash emissions or watch cities vanish under rising seas, rivers run dry and marine life collapse.
    Days after millions of young people demanded an end to the fossil fuel era at protests around the globe, a new report by a U.N.-backed panel of experts found that radical action may yet avert some of the worst possible outcomes of global warming.
    But the study was clear that allowing carbon emissions to continue their upward path would upset the balance of the great geophysical systems governing oceans and the frozen regions of the Earth so profoundly that nobody would escape untouched.
    The report projects that sea levels could rise by one meter (3.3 ft.) by 2100 -- ten times the rate in the 20th century -- if emissions keep climbing. Looking further forward, the rise could exceed five meters by 2300.
    In the Himalayas, glaciers feeding ten rivers, including the Ganges and Yangtze, could shrink dramatically if emissions do not fall, hitting water supplies across a swathe of Asia.
    Thawing permafrost in places such as Alaska and Siberia could release vast quantities of greenhouse gases, potentially unleashing feedback loops driving faster warming.
    Carbon emissions, which hit a record high last year, are projected to inflict a devastating toll on oceans, which have so far buffered almost all the manmade warming generated by burning coal, oil and gas.
    As the oceans get hotter, what are known as "marine heatwaves" are becoming more intense, turning coral reefs boneyard white -- including much of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. As more carbon dioxide dissolves in the water, the oceans are also becoming more acidic, damaging ecosystems.
    The rising temperatures are in turn starving the upper layers of the water of oxygen, suffocating marine life, creating growing dead zones, and disrupting the circulation of ocean currents, which then unleashes more disruptive weather on land.
    The authors say that long lag times at work in oceans mean that some of these changes will inevitably intensify over centuries -- even if the world stopped emitting all its greenhouses gases tomorrow.
    But if emissions are allowed to continue rising then the impacts are likely to start accelerating so rapidly that they will overwhelm societies' capacity to cope, with the poorest and most vulnerable communities and countries succumbing first.
    (Production: Antony Paone, Michaela Cabrera)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register