Global Sea level is predicted to rise 50 feet by 2300

According to a review of sea-level change and projections by Rutgers and other scientists, global average sea-level is expected to rise by nearly eight feet by 2100 and 50 feet by 2300 if greenhouse gas emissions remain high.

Global average sea-level has risen by about 0.2 feet since the start of this century. The study by Rutgers and other scientists states that about 11 per cent of the world’s 7.6 billion people have been living in areas less than 33 feet above sea level. The rising seas may pose a major risk to coastal populations, economies, infrastructure and ecosystems around the world.

The study also states that a large portion of sea-level rise in the 20th century, including most of the global rise since 1975, is tied to human-caused global warming.

However, sea-level rise varies over location and time. The scientists have developed a range of methods to reconstruct past changes and to predict future ones. In spite of the conflicting approaches, a clear story is likely to emerge from 2000 to 2050; the global average sea-level will most likely rise about 6 to 10 inches, but is very unlikely to rise by more than 18 inches. The projections are more sensitive to changes in greenhouse gas emissions and to the approaches for projecting sea-level change beyond 2050.