Sea levels rising faster in Pacific than elsewhere, says WMO report

Sea level rises in the Pacific Ocean are outstripping the global average, a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report showed on Tuesday, imperiling low-lying island states.

Globally, sea level advances are accelerating as higher temperatures driven by the continued burning of fossil fuels melt once-mighty ice sheets, while warmer oceans cause water molecules to expand.

But even compared to the global average rate rise of 3.4 millimetres a year over the past three decades, the WMO report showed that the average annual increase was "significantly higher" in two measurement areas of the Pacific, north and east of Australia.

"Human activities have weakened the capacity of the ocean to sustain and protect us and – through sea level rise – are transforming a lifelong friend into a growing threat," said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo in a statement to coincide with the release of the regional State of the Climate report 2023 at a forum in Tonga.

Already, such rises have brought a surge in the frequency of coastal flooding since 1980, with dozens of instances happening in islands like the Cook Islands and French Polynesia which previously reported just a handful of such cases annually.

Explained | How rising sea levels threaten agriculture, rainfall, and the social fabric

Such events are sometimes caused by tropical cyclones which scientists think could also be intensifying due to climate change, as sea surface temperatures climb.

Over 34 hazards like storms and floods were reported in the Pacific region in 2023, resulting in more than 200 deaths, the WMO report said, adding that only a third of small island developing states had early warning systems.

A WMO spokesperson said that the impact of rising water levels on Pacific islands was disproportionately high since their average elevation is just a meter or two (3.3 to 6.5 feet) above sea level.

To raise awareness of the dangers, Tuvalu's foreign minister gave a speech to the U.N. climate conference in 2021 while standing knee-deep in seawater, making global headlines.

But the WMO report said further rises across the planet would "continue for centuries to millennia due to continuing deep ocean heat uptake and mass loss from ice sheets".