NASA takes the field with 30 years of data. Observations from space show how the rate of sea level rise is dangerously and undeniably increasing. Knowing therefore where and when this is most critically occurring can help authorities and professionals in the sector prepare to face future risks.
As reported by the same “National Aeronautics and Space Administration”the US space agency is using i satellite data collected over 30 years of work to track and project an evolution on rising sea levels.
The Sea Level Change Science Team of NASA, which is part of the Earth Science Division of the same agency, uses data from a variety of sources, including satellites, tide gauges and other sensors, to study sea level changes around the world.
One of the main datasets used by the Sea Level Change Science Team is the satellite altimetry recordingwhich provides precise measurements of sea surface height from space.
NASA is already collecting this information since 1992, when the TOPEX/Poseidon mission was first launched. Since then, other missions such as Jason-1, Jason-2 and Jason-3 have continued to provide this extremely important data.
By analyzing all these elements, NASA scientists are now able to monitor sea level changes over time and by predict how they might evolve in the future. Fundamental information for several reasons, such as better management of coasts at risk and a deep understanding of the impacts of climate change on our planet.
On the other hand, NASA’s work to monitor and project rising sea levels is part of a larger Agency project aimed at study the earth’s climate to develop solutions to environmental challenges that the world will have to face in the near future.
Unfortunately the new data is not very favorable, showing how Global sea level has risen by an average of about 3.4 millimeters per year since 1993. A rate of sea rise that is also accelerating is likely to continue to do so in the future as a result of the increase in temperature of the Earth’s oceans and the resulting melting of glaciers.
An important part of the efforts of the NASA is employed in creating predictive models that evaluate how these problems could concretely influence, in the next decades, the coasts and the communities at risk present all over the world.
Key projections for policy makers and industry insiders who will soon have to make decisions about how adapt to the impacts of climate changeincluding sea level rise.
