SUBSCRIBE PREVIOUS ISSUES
Featured Article
Sea Level Rise
Sea level rise is a difficult reality to navigate. As the waters creep up around the globe, it is critical to plan infrastructure, establish countermeasures and mitigate community impacts. Specific rates of rise are unique to each community, and fortunately, NOAA has
developed a tool to help map these unique differences. The average global sea level has risen by about 8.5 inches since 1880, which is around the peaks of the Industrial Revolution.
1 This is an unprecedented increase from the slight rise and decline that had been natural for 3000 years prior.
1 The overall rate of sea level rise is increasing over time as well, from 0.06 inches per year in the 1900s to 0.14 inches per year from 2006-2015.
What is causing the rise in sea level? Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are the culprit and are the result of several natural and man-made processes, including fossil fuel combustion, wide-scale agriculture and industrial activities. Once released into the atmosphere, these gases serve to trap heat from the sun's radiation. The more GHGs present, the more heat is trapped.2 Thus, sea level rise results from two factors: melt water from ice sheets and glaciers and thermal expansion of water.1 The melting glaciers and thermal expansion are all caused by rising temperatures from heat trapped by increasingly abundant greenhouse gases.
Glaciers and ice sheets hold massive amounts of freshwater. A total melt of all the world's glaciers would result in a more than 195-foot sea level rise.3 While the reality we now face isn't nearly that bleak, the amount of annual glacial melt has accelerated dramatically within the past decade, more than quadrupling in some areas. For instance, the Greenland Ice Sheet had a seven-fold increase of annual ice loss in 2012-2016 when compared to 1992-2001, jumping from 34 billion tons to 247 billion tons. The only icy region that hasn't been experiencing intensive net losses is Antarctica, which has seen an annual 1% gain.4 Given these global increases in ice melts, this counts for two-thirds of global sea level rise.1
More than 90% of heat trapped by greenhouse gases is absorbed by the ocean. Since water expands with temperature increase, abundant GHG emissions are causing thermal expansion of our oceans. Thermal expansion occurs at an increased rate in ocean water closer to the surface, where the greatest warming effects are observed. Thermal expansion results in the final one-third of global sea level rise.5
While the sea level rise we currently experience has not equated to uninhabitable coastlines, these rises have brought about stronger hurricanes, higher storm surge and an increased amount of “nuisance flooding," or floods that occur during high tides as opposed to rainstorms.1 These are all due to increasing amounts of water present in the ocean which fuels the storms and spills over onto land.
The projected impacts of sea level rise over the next century are up to us in the present day. Models accounting for various scenarios of decreased or increased GHG emissions predict sea level rise in 2100 could be anywhere between 2 and 7 feet from 2000 levels.1 This affects all of NIH's operations, especially communities around the Bayview Campus in Baltimore, which are particularly likely to experience impacts from this continual shift, given its proximity to coastal flooding-prone areas.6
Already, the NIH is taking action by collaborating with partners to initiate a climate vulnerability assessment campaign for our various locations across the country. These assessments will allow us to employ infrastructure updates and alleviate future stressors that are projected to occur due to climate-related impacts, including sea level rise. While these rising levels and their accompanying effects may be just “nuisances" now, their impact will undoubtedly affect future operations at the NIH and the lives of generations to come.
Spotlight
| NIH Recipients of an FY2022 HHS Green Champion Award
Recipients from the NIH earned 13 Green Champion awards for their efforts during FY2022. Please take a moment to read about the many green projects from the NIH!
LEARN MORE
|
Take Action
| Benefits of Planting Your Earth Day Seedlings
If
you attended the Earth Day event at the Bethesda Campus back in late April, you
may have gotten one of the 400 Northern Red Oak or Norway Spruce seedlings from
our seedling giveaway. Despite their small size, your seedling will make
a big impact over its lifetime.
LEARN MORE
|
NEMS Training
Did you know? The increased frequency and intensity of flooding due to sea level rise is a threat to continuity of operations at the NIH. To learn more about climate change and its impact on the NIH, please visit the NEMS Training webpage to view a short (20 minute) NIH environmental awareness training video.
The NIH Green Zone Newsletter is a publication intended to inform NIH staff about the Division of Environmental Protection and NIH Green Teams projects and initiatives. The text contained in this newsletter is not copyrighted and can be reprinted without permission. If you use portions of this newsletter in your own publication, we ask that you please credit the source. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Thank you.
|
|---|
| Division of Environmental Protection | Office of Research Facilities | Office of Management
National Institutes of Health | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
|