China sea levels to rise up to 130mm

November 16th, 2011 - 2:55 am ICT by IANS  

Beijing, Nov 16 (IANS) Sea levels near China will rise up to 130 millimetres in the coming two decades due to global warming, a national scientific report has observed.

The rise in sea levels around China is predicted to submerge 18,000 sq km of coastal lowlands, Xinhua reported.

Rising temperature would lead to continuous rise of sea levels by 80 mm to 130 mm in 2030 compared with 2009, according to the Second National Assessment Report on Climate Change, a joint work of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the China Meteorological Administration and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The report, which was released Tuesday, also revealed that the average temperature of the land surface in China had increased 1.38 degrees centigrade from 1951 to 2009.

China’s glaciers have shrunk by 10 percent over the past 60 years as a result of rising temperatures, the report said.

Sea levels around the municipalities of Tianjin and Shanghai as well as Guangdong province are expected to climb 76 to 145 mm, 98 to 148 mm and 83 to 149 mm, respectively, in 2030, it stated.

The absolute sea level of South China’s Pearl river, the second largest river in China in terms of runoff volume, which is the flow of rain and meltwater into seas and low-lying area, will see a rise of 90 to 210 mm in 2050.

The first report of this kind was released four years ago.

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