Between 2022 and 2023, global ocean levels have risen by an average of 0.76 centimeters, a “Remarkable Leap” Compared to other years, due to both the El Nino phenomenon and climate change, NASA announced Thursday, March 21. According to this data based on satellite observations, the ocean level has risen an average of 9.4 cm since 1993.
The main culprit is climate change, including the melting of ice (ice caps, glaciers) but also the expansion of oceans as a result of heat absorption.
Sea level rise is getting faster and faster: its rate has more than doubled between 1993 (0.18 cm per year) and now (0.42 cm). “Current pace means we are on track to add another 20cm to global oceans by 2050”, Nadya Vinogradova Schiffer, director of the team responsible for the file at NASA, said in a statement. This can happen “Increasing Flood Frequency and Consequences Worldwide”.she emphasized.
There was almost a four-fold increase over the previous year
Between 2022 and 2023, a quarter of the observed increase in Lake Superior, the largest of North America’s Great Lakes, is equivalent to the discharge into the oceans. This increase represents a little less than four times the previous year (+ 0.21 cm between 2021 and 2022). That year, the La Niña phenomenon was at work.
“During La Niña, rain that would normally fall in the oceans falls on land instead, temporarily removing water from the oceans”, explained Josh Willis, a researcher on the subject at NASA. Also “During El Niño years, most of the rain that normally falls on land ends up in the ocean, temporarily raising sea levels”he added.
