Tripura: Global warming threatens east coast

Agartala, Oct 16: A study funded by the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment has revealed that several low-lying areas in India's eastern coast will be submerged by the next century.

The study has predicted that Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts of Orissa, Nellore in Andhra Pradesh and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu on the eastern coast will be submerged within the next hundred years following increase of surface temperature.

The research on the impact of climate change on various sectors, including coastal zones, projected that rise of water level in the Bay of Bengal upto one metre would be responsible for loss of 5,764 sq km land on the eastern coast of the country.

Besides submerging coastal land, global warming would displace approximately 7.1 million people and destroy 4,200 km roads by the end of the next century, the report stated, adding that the coastal areas are vulnerable to the projected increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather conditions like storm surges and cyclones.

According to the report, the oceanic region adjoining the Indian subcontinent is likely to warm at its surface by about 1.5-2 degrees Celsius by the middle of this century and about 2.3-3.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

The indication derived from modern simulation study has also described that a number of human habitations along India's eastern coast would be divested with global warming, intensifying cyclones and rising sea levels eroding vast stretches of the shores.

The past observations on the mean sea level along the Indian coast show a long-term rising trend of about 1 mm per year but the recent data revealed that the rising trend was 2.5 mm per year in the sea level along Indian coastline.

The corresponding thermal expansion and related sea level rise is expected to be between 15 cm and 38 cm by the middle of the century and 46 cm and 59 cm by the end of the century.

UNI