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Context: According to the analysis by RMSI, some critical properties and road networks in Mumbai, Kochi, Mangalore, Chennai, Vishakapatnam, and Thiruvananthapuram will be drowned by 2050 because of the rise in sea level.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “about 93% of the excess heat energy stored by the Earth over the last 50 years is found in the ocean” As the oceans warm, they increase in volume, raising global sea levels.

Key findings of the report:

• Mumbai: Around 998 buildings and 24 km of road length will be affected by potential sea-level rise by 2050.
• Chennai: road length of 5 km and 55 buildings are at the risk; in Kochi, around 464 buildings are likely to be impacted by 2050 with the number rising to around 1,502 buildings during high tide.
• Thiruvananthapuram: due to sea-level rise by 2050 and sea-level rise with high tide, 349 and 387 buildings, respectively, are likely to be impacted.
• Visakhapatnam: Around 206 buildings and 9 km of the road network are likely to be inundated due to potential coastline changes by 2050.

What’s causing sea level to rise?

• Global warming is causing global mean sea level to rise in two ways.
  • First, glaciers and ice sheets worldwide are melting and adding water to the ocean.
  • Second, the volume of the ocean is expanding as the water warms.
  • Third, much smaller contributor to sea level rise is a decline in the amount of liquid water on land—aquifers, lakes and reservoirs, rivers, soil moisture. This shift of liquid water from land to ocean is largely due to groundwater pumping.

Consequences of Sea level rise:

• devastating effects on coastal habitats farther inland
• destructive erosion
• wetland flooding
• threaten infrastructure necessary for local jobs and regional industries.
• aquifer and agricultural soil contamination with salt
• threatening farmland, housing or recreation areas.
• and lost habitat for fish, birds, and plants.

How drowning of cities can be prevented?

• Land reclamation
• increasing the height of roads and
• strengthening buildings against corrosion or relocating them.

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/mumbai-to-chennai-these-coastal-cities-that-may-drown-by-2050-11649384760837.html

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