The nation’s security is in danger because of rising sea level as an effect of climate change. Climate change is causing the melting of land ice and thermal expansion of ocean water which leads scientists to predict that by 2050 parts of New York City will be under the water. Climate change is valid. Climate change is the effect of greenhouse gases caused by humans.
Prolouge
In this paper, the issue of climate change and sea level rise is being discussed. The paper focuses on how global warming comes to life and it effects. A lot of scientific articles were closely examined to figure the controversies of global warming, more importantly, sea level rise. Thermal expansion and melting of land ice are discussed deeply and how they contribute to the rising of sea level. A major role that sea level plays in Hurricanes and storms is also discussed and rooted in evidence in this paper. Sea level rise also plays a major role in the security of a nation. As it can cause a nation to be vulnerable to attacks.
Intro
Sea level rise is the major issue that is garbing the attention of national and international people. Global warming is the most crucial cause of sea level rise. The rising sea level endangers country such as Netherland and Belgium because they are low lying which means that some of the lands is already under the water. Rising sea levels play an important role in making hurricanes, hazards, and erosions worst. Rising seas level can increase the damages caused by hurricanes. Raising sea level threatens the world as it is the impact of climate change evident.
Sea level is the elevation of sea’s surface. The height of the mean sea changes over time because of tides and waves. The global mean sea level is the average sea level of the oceans worldwide. The GMSL provides the person with the average height of the global seas with does not necessarily mean that it’s the accurate height of all the seas because it takes the average of all. Significant changes in the rise of sea level will be taking place in future which even threatens New York City to be under the water.
Factors and how they contribute to global warming?
The earth’s temperature is warming numerously. In the past centuries, the climate was warmer than today but the records show that the global warming today is taking place rapidly than ever before. 2016 was said to be the warmest year in the history.
Human activities are said to be the major reason why global warming is taking place. Greenhouse gases are released in air by human activity and greenhouse gases lead to climate changing. The excessive amount of carbon dioxide emission is one of the many reasons which contribute to climate change. Humans exhale carbon dioxide and fossil fuels also release carbon dioxide. Even though fossil fuels do contribute to the co2 in the air, the human’s activities weight more on the scale of releasing co2.
According to the U.S. EPA, 2016: there is an industrial factor that contributes to carbon dioxide emission in the air. Industries Emmitt co2 because they burn fossil fuels to create electricity. The use of electricity also plays a role in global warming by burning fossil fuels for the production of electricity. Electricity emits about 40% carbon dioxide into the air as shown in figure 2. Transportation also causes the co2 levels to increase in the air because automobiles contribute 50- 90 percent to air pollution. (Figure 2). Another greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming is nitrous oxide it is released from soil and the body of water. It is considered to be the 3rd most important greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. (Figure 2). Greenhouse gasses make up carbon dioxide makes up the majority of the greenhouse gases that lead to global warming.
The factors mentioned above lead to climate change because they all relate to carbon dioxide. Carbon Dioxide traps heat and that heat then causes the atmosphere to be warm. As the amount of carbon dioxide emission increase in the atmosphere, the air tends to be warmer.
Methane is another gas that also contributes to the change in climate. The concentration of methane is lower than co2 but its production takes place 21 times more than the co2. Methane is said to last in the atmosphere for 11 to 12 years. (Figure 2). Methane heats up by the sunlight and causes the air to be warm. Methane has the potential to cause global warming when it is leaked. (Environmental defense fund, chapter 8).
Sea level rise
According to NASA.GOV, the most important factors which contribute to the rise in sea level are the melting of glaciers and Thermal expansion.
The Greenhouse gases lead to the warming of the earth and causing the rise in sea level by the melting of glaciers and ice sheets. Melting of land ice can cause the sea level to rise because it is not in the sea and when it melts the liquid will then make its way to the sea. As the glaciers melt, the water then flows into the ocean and sea level expands in size. In recent years because of global climate change, the ice has melted greater than it ever did before. The increase in heat of the weather causes the melting of ice sheets leading to rising in the sea level.
Water expands when it’s heated, this type of rising in sea level is called thermal expansion. The heat caused by the greenhouse gases causes the atmosphere to heat up which affect the kinetic energy which causes the water molecules to move faster and expand.
Sea level continues to rise as the carbon dioxide emission increases in the atmosphere causing the warming of the global temperature. According to climate central sea level increased by 8 inches since 1880. Rising sea level increased the damages caused by hurricanes. An example is a hurricane Sandy. The rising sea level played an important role in causing the damage of $71.6 billion according to National Hurricane Center. Not only Hurricane Sandy but hurricane Irma and Harvey were also affected by the rising of sea level. Even Though rising sea level did not cause the hurricanes but made the destruction worst. While talking about climate change and hurricanes Sean Sublette, a meteorologist at climate change states “It’s not the proximate cause of the storm, but it makes these bad storms worst. And in case of a really bad storm, climate change can make it totally disastrous, and catastrophic.” (Drash, Wayne. CNN. september 19, 2017).
In an ongoing discussion about climate change (bodle, Lauren. The never ending discussion of sea level rise. Sep 29, 2015.) The National Climate Assessment states: “ Climate change was not only real but it was already affecting the people in the United States, particularly in Florida, where 75% of all residents live near the coast.” In the discussion, it was proven that climate change and sea level are rising and they both are a threat to the U.S. because of the residents living alongside the coastal Florida.
A major evidence of climate change is the worsens of the hurricanes as it causes major damage. Storm surges increased as the sea level rises. In figure 4 a positive correlation can be seen between the rising sea level and storm surges.
Sea level rise a threat to the national security
National security is a really important for a country’s survival because when nation’s security is in danger it’s hard to survive. Rising sea level can make a country vulnerable to outside attacks, economic damage, and damage to the ecosystem.
The melting of land ice causes the sea levels to rise. The land ice melts due to the warm temperature. Melting of mountain ice disrupts the ecosystem because a large number of polar bears migrated because the ice from their habitat melted. The migration of polar bear disrupts the ecosystem the population of seals will increase as they were the prey for the polar bears.
Another issue that sea level rise can cause is that it can make a nation vulnerable to attacks from outside when a nation is already in the crisis such as hurricanes.If a hurricane hits the nation, the nation has to deal with how to minimize the destruction the hurricane will cause. During this time the main focus of the nation is the hurricane and this is what outside world can take advantage of an attack. When a nation is weak (facing hurricane) it is vulnerable to more attacks. Climate change can allow a nation vulnerable to attacks. An example can be Hurricane Katrina, During Hurricane Katrina people were scared to provide the affected refugees with shelter and food because they were fearing a terrorist attack. This internal conflict was another reason why so many people lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina.
Third national security issue that a nation can face because of rising sea level is economic issues. As shown in figure 3 that certain parts of New York City will be under the water. If the neighborhoods of New York sink in water the country will face a huge economic loss. Damages caused by the worse hurricanes can also be an example of economic loss. Economic loss can lead to a period of depression.
Mentioned above are some of the national security issues that a nation can face because of the rising sea level. A nation’s security can be in question when the nation faces crisis. Sea level rise can expose a nation to economic loss, attacks from outside, and a disruptive ecosystem. Therefore, sea level rise can cause a lot of issues for a nation.
Conclusion
Overall, sea level rise is an important climate change issue which has a lot of bad things to it. Human causation of carbon dioxide emission with greenhouse gases leads to the warming of the global atmosphere. As the global temperature begins to warm the land ice starts to melt and flow into the river. The warmness of the atmosphere warms the water and a process of thermal expansion takes place. Both thermal expansion and melting of land ice contribute to the rising sea levels.
Rising sea level bring disasters along because the rise in sea level worsens a hurricane and its damage. It also can sink neighborhood with a lot of economic worth $$$. It can weaken a country’s economic, and security system during a disaster. Therefore, rising sea levels is an evidence that global warming is happening and that climate change is real and it is happening at the moment.
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Citations
- Dailey, Jessica. See how much of NYC will be under the water. July 15, 2015.
- Drash, wayne. Yes, climate change made Harvey and Irma worse. September 19, 2017.
- EPA. Climate change indicators: U.S. greenhouse gas. December 17, 2016.
- National geographic. Sea level rise. April 7, 2017.
- Global warming and climate change – the science – world nuclear association. December 10, 2017.
- Bodley, Lauren. The never ending discussion of sea level rise. September 29, 2015.
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