Climate Change: Rising Seas and Rising Challenges in South Africa

As seas rise along South Africa’s coastlines, a natural counterforce is at play, drought. New research reveals that parts of the country are slowly lifting out of the ocean due to water loss underground.

Seas are escalating threats to South Africa’s shorelines, pummeling urban areas with deluges and erosion. However, unexpectedly within climatic research, sections of the nation’s bedrock appear to be uplifting.

Researchers from Germany believe drought and resulting water loss due to global warming may be causing parts of South Africa to lift out of the ocean by two millimeters each year.

The shoreline erosion affects coastal cities such as Cape Town, Durban, and Port Elizabeth in South Africa. frequent flooding , along with the destruction of vital infrastructure and natural environments.

The nation likewise went through multiple sequences of events. extreme weather events in 2017 : massive waves, storm surges, heavy rainfall, wildfires, and hurricane-force winds that devastated the southwestern cape.

At least eight fatalities were attributed to the storms, which also caused damage to 135 educational institutions. Around 800 houses in Cape Town experienced flooding as a result.

Such incidents underscore the growing risks to South Africa's coastal regions posed by increasing weather hazards, which scientists predict will be more frequent and intense due to rising global temperatures.

David William, an ocean governance policy analyst from South Africa, emphasized that incorporating climate and ocean issues into policies is crucial for effectively tackling the escalating problem of rising sea levels.

"The problem has been that South Africa hasn't successfully linked climate and ocean discussions, they're often treated as separate issues," Willima said.

Climate change is causing the continent to rise.

As concerns over increasing sea levels rise, researchers have noted that certain areas along South Africa's coastline are slowly elevating.

Alterations in terrain height are typically credited to profound geological activities like the shifting of molten substances under the Earth's crust.

However, a recent study led by Makan Karegar, a geodesist from the University of Bonn, contradicts that perspective.

The study indicates that droughts are the main cause.

"Groundwater adds weight to the land," Karegar told . "A lot of rain and flood put weight on the Earth's crust, surface and that weight causes [it] to go down."

In times of drought, both moisture leaves the soil and groundwater reserves diminish, causing the land to become less heavy and thus able to lift upwards, much like how a dry sponge swells as it loses water.

The researchers used GPS measurements, satellite data, and hydrological models to study the correlation between areas experiencing severe droughts and significant land uplift.

Jasper Knight, a geoscientist from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who did not participate in the study, deems the research to be scientifically robust.

Knight mentioned that they utilized top-notch data along with robust modeling methods, and their application of these approaches in southern Africa is particularly intriguing.

They propose that climate variability plays a crucial role in causing consistent changes in land surface elevation throughout the area, as opposed to the conventional notion which attributes these alterations primarily to tectonic uplift of the land surface.

Is there a silver lining after all?

Although this occurrence might seem like a natural safeguard against increasing sea levels, Knight warns against being too hopeful.

"You might argue that if the land surface is elevating, then the sea level could remain unchanged or even decrease from a relative perspective," Knight stated.

However, this could come at the cost of reduced water availability on the land surface. If forced to choose between slowing down sea-level rise along the coasts and dealing with droughts inland, I would opt for the former as the lesser evil.

Karegar notes that whereas certain nations elevate their land artificially by pumping treated wastewater into subterranean areas to mitigate flood risks, South Africa’s condition arises as a consequence of an inherent drought.

Nevertheless, he mentioned that the findings from the research could assist in wider ecological stewardship.

"These discoveries might enhance drought and flood tracking, assist in managing groundwater resources, and contribute to more effective strategies for water resource planning and adapting to climate changes," he stated.

Edited by: Matthew Ward Agius

Sources

GPS Measurements of Land Uplift in South Africa: Insights into Water Mass Displacement

Author: Abubakar Said Saad

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