According to the analysis led by NASA, which tracks rising water levels using satellite images, the world's seas rose by 0.59 cm in 2024, well above the 0.43 cm predicted by scientists.
According to an analysis published on 13 March by the US space agency NASA, the world's ocean levels will rise more than expected in 2024 - the hottest year in Earth's history.
On its website, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration explains that last year's increase "was due to unusually large ocean warming coupled with melting water from land-based ice, such as glaciers."
According to the NASA-led analysis, which tracks rising water levels using satellite images, the world's seas rose by 0.59 cm in 2024, well above the 0.43 cm predicted by scientists.
"Every year is a little bit different, but what is clear is that the ocean continues to rise, and the rate of rise is getting faster," says researcher Josh Willis of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Sea level rise is among the consequences of human-induced climate change, and the oceans are rising in line with the rise in the Earth's average surface temperature - a change that is itself driven by greenhouse gas emissions.
According to NASA, over the last three decades - from 1993 to 2023 - the average sea level around the world has risen by a total of about 10 cm.
The phenomenon is mainly due to two factors: the melting of glaciers and polar ice caps, which increases the flow of freshwater into the oceans, and the expansion of seawater under the influence of heat, a process known as thermal expansion.
According to NASA, the sea level rise observed in recent years is mainly due to the first factor and less to the second.
"But in 2024, these factors will reverse, with two-thirds of sea level rise coming from thermal expansion," the agency says.
2024 was the warmest year since such records began in 1850.
Sea levels are expected to continue rising as humanity continues to emit greenhouse gases, threatening huge populations living on islands or along coastlines. | BGNES