Sea-level rise has accelerated across Africa in recent decades, thanks to global warming and, in particular, to the melting of ice sheets and glaciers, according to a recent study. The study, published Dec. 15 in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, found that sea levels across the continent have risen four times faster since 2010, […]
  • Sea-level rise has accelerated across Africa in recent decades, thanks to global warming and, in particular, to the melting of ice sheets and glaciers, according to a recent study.
  • Sea levels across the continent have risen four times faster since 2010, on average, than they had in the 1990s. About 80% of the sea-level rise is due to added water mass from meltwater.
  • The impacts include flooding, erosion of coastal land, intrusion of salty seawater into freshwater drinking sources and displacement of coastal communities.
  • In many coastal areas, sea-level rise occurs even as the land itself is sinking due to groundwater extraction or other factors, exacerbating its impacts.