At hot sea (Indian Express)
Mains Paper 3 : Environment
Prelims level : Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Mains level : Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on climate change
Context
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) expressed, “By 2100,
oceans all over the world will absorb five to seven times more heat than
they have done in the past 50 years, if we do not reduce our emissions
trajectory”.
Key highlights of the report
- This report warns, will lead to global sea- levels rising by at least a
metre, submerging several coastal cities, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai
and Surat.
- Marine heatwaves are projected to be more intense, they would last
longer and occur 50 times more often.
- Sea-level rise could also lead to an increase in the frequency of
extreme weather events, which occur, for example, during high tides and
intense storms.
Background
- Oceans cover more than 70 per cent of the earth’s surface and provide
critical ecosystem services such as soaking up heat and distributing it
evenly.
- So, as the planet warms, it’s the oceans that get most of the extra
energy.
- But hotter oceans also mean stronger cyclones and storms. This could
mean unprecedented volatility in several coastal regions.
Threat to climatic incident happened worldwide
- In 2014, Cyclone Nilofar was the first extremely severe cyclone to be
recorded in the Arabian Sea in the post-monsoon season.
- Earlier cyclones impacting the country generally originated in the Bay
of Bengal and made their landfall on India’s eastern coast. Cyclone Nilofar
did not make a landfall but it led to heavy rains in the country’s west
coast.
- And in October last year, a higher than normal surge in sea-level due to
the dual impact of Cyclone Luban and high tide swamped several beaches in
Goa.
- Some of them, in fact, went completely under water for a few hours.
- Warming seas have changed cyclone behaviour in other ways as well.
- In 2017, Cyclone Ockhi, which originated in the Bay of Bengal, travelled
more than 2,000 km to wreak havoc on India’s western coast — the first
cyclone to do so in 30 years.
Way forward
- The IPCC report warns of more “frequent El Nino and La Nina events”.
- These events in the Pacific Ocean are critically linked to the southwest
monsoons in India. In fact, a El Nino caused a severe drought in the country
in 2015.
- This means that countries will not only have to upscale efforts to check
GHG emissions, they will also need to ramp up investments in infrastructure
and knowledge systems that help build up peoples’ resilience against extreme
weather events.
- However, after the Paris Climate Treaty, progress on both counts has
been patchy at best. The latest IPCC report should serve as a wake-up call.