'Bad situations' foreseen
MANILA, Philippines — Sea levels along Philippine coasts that may lead to more intense cyclones will continue to rise due to human activities that alter natural conditions, a new study revealed.
Lead researcher Benjamin Hamlington from the Old Dominion University in Virginia and the University of Colorado Boulder discovered that the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a naturally occurring climate phenomenon affecting sea rise patterns, are not the main cause of the the increase sea levels in the Philippines and northeastern Australia.
"The conventional wisdom has been that if the Pacific Decadal Oscillation was removed from the equation this sea level rise in parts of the Pacific would disappear," Hamlington said in a recent statement.
"But we found that sea level rise off the coasts of the Philippines and northeastern Australia appear to be anthropogenic and would continue even without this oscillation," he explained.
The team behind the study, funded primarily by NASA and the National Science Foundation, estimated that areas of the ocean near the Philippines rise by about one centimeter a year due to "anthropogenic" factors or human activities that contribute to warming.
The average current global sea level rise is roughly three millimeters per year, while sea level patterns are not geographically uniform, the study noted.
"When water starts piling up there and typhoon-like storms are traveling over higher sea levels, it can be a bad situation," Hamlington said, adding that severe weather becomes more intense over time as the sea rises.
Greenpeace International, meanwhile, explained that the climate change that mounts sea levels may force governments to spend billions on adaptation, such as in developing areas away from the coasts and building defenses for vulnerable areas.
Powerful cyclones and flashfloods can also displace millions in major cities and cause massive economic damage, the group had said.
Other devastating consequences of rising oceans are the contamination of both surface and fresh water supplies and the displacement of rural populations.