Study shows sea levels started rising in late 1950s
Turns out, sea levels in the central Indian Ocean started rising way earlier than most people thought—back in the late 1950s, not just from the 1990s.
Researchers led by Paul Kench at the National University of Singapore studied coral microatolls on a Maldivian reef and tracked a 0.3-meter rise between 1930 and 2019.
This shakes up old assumptions about when climate change really began affecting ocean levels.
Coral microatolls help track sea level changes
Coral microatolls act like natural timekeepers for sea level changes—they grow sideways when tides limit their height.
The team found their patterns lined up with big El Nino events and even tracked how the moon's cycles affect tides.
These findings show how important microatolls are for understanding long-term sea-level trends, which is crucial for places like Maldives and Lakshadweep that are especially vulnerable to rising seas.