Sea-level rise studies are based on outdated models: Shocking findings
Turns out, over 90% of sea-level rise studies have been using outdated models instead of real-world measurements.
Because of this, scientists have been underestimating how much sea levels are actually rising—by about 24-27cm worldwide, and in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, the gap can be as huge as 7.6 meters.
1m of sea-level rise would directly affect 132 million people
The study found that way more land—and people—are at risk than we thought.
With better data, researchers saw a 37% jump in areas threatened by a 1m sea-level rise.
The study estimates that 1m of sea-level rise would directly affect about 77 million to 132 million people, while the broader population living in low-elevation coastal zones is roughly 970 million to 1.07 billion (about 12.3-13.7% of the global population).
Authors urge everyone to use more accurate local data
The authors are calling for everyone to use more accurate local data and have even shared open-source tools to help.
They urged better integration of sea-level and land-elevation data, released open-source tools and datasets, and recommended that policymakers use locally validated information.