What happens to sea levels when glaciers melt and water runs into the sea?
• How will our place be affected by sea level rise? • How will sea level rise in other places impact on life in our place? Key concepts: Space Scale Physical Processes Interdependence Environmental interaction What happens to sea levels when glaciers melt and water runs into the sea? Scientists think world sea-level could rise by more than half a metre this century. Primarily this is because sea water is getting warmer and expanding (this is known as thermal expansion of the oceans). But polar ice is starting to melt and adding more water to the oceans – this will greatly increase in importance as a cause of sea-level rise during the course of the next century. The sea-level rise will be most apparent in places where the land is sinking too. In southeast England, the land is sinking as a result of post-Pleistocene isostatic readjustment. In parts of Bangladesh, the Ganges delta is naturally subsiding due to its depositional nature and sea-level rise of over 1 metre are projected perhap
