If you're wondering why the line jumps up and down, that's because sea level rise is not uniform each year due to prevailing weather patterns. Image: The graphs show the rising trend from the perspective of satellite data (the smaller graph) and tide gauge data (the larger one below it). Check out the twin graphs below from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's State of the Climate Report 2022. So while the full picture is not yet apparent at a glance, the data shows it clearly. If (as seems certain) the sea level keeps rising in our lifetimes, we'll eventually notice our favourite beach shrinking, or higher average water levels in the estuaries where we fish or go boating, as well as more frequent severe coastal inundation during king tides, storms, and tropical cyclones. In fact, it's still almost impossible for the average Aussie to detect that 20 cm of sea level rise since 1901 along Australia's coast, especially when you factor in day-to-day tidal activity and variations in weather.īut that will likely change in the future. If you go to the beach today, it’ll probably look a lot like it did at any period in your lifetime, give or take the effects of natural forces like weather and tides and erosion. It also says that "Observed changes in extremes such heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has further strengthened since AR5", the previous assessment report which was completed in 2014.Ĭan we observe sea level rise in Australia? The IPCC report states that "Human influence was likely the main driver of sea level increases since at least 1971." Image: Scenes like this will likely become more common during extreme weather events in Australia. It was also more than triple the rate of the earlier period between 19. So as you can see, sea level rise between 20 was almost double the rate of the 35-year period before that. For example, the average rate of sea level rise was: You might not think 20 centimetres is too drastic, but as mentioned, the rate of rise is increasing.
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