Scientists Warn Beaches Will Disappear By 2100 Due To Global Warming

A new environmental study warned that about half of the world’s sandy beaches could completely disappear by 2100 due to the effects of global warming. Once these beaches disappear, affected areas would experience harsher storms and flooding.

The new study focused on the various beaches around the world that are currently being affected by global warming. It was published in the journal Nature.

According to the authors of the study, one of the wide-scale effects of global warming is the overall sea-level rise. The scientists noted that due to melting glaciers and ice caps around the world, the oceans in different parts of the globe are increasing.

If this effect continues, the scientists warned that most of the world’s sandy beaches and shorelines would complete go underwater by the end of the century. Based on their findings, Australia would experience the biggest beach loss with the disappearance of up to 15,000 kilometers of coastline in the next 80 years. It would then be followed by Canada, Chile and the U.S.

Aside from these nations, 10 more countries would experience massive losses in their coastlines. Some of these countries include Mexico, China, Brazil, India and Argentina.

If the coastlines of these countries completely disappear within the next decades, they would be left vulnerable to powerful storms and mass flooding. As noted by the scientists, beaches serve as the primary defense system against storm surges.

“Apart from tourism, sandy beaches often act as the first line of defense from coastal storms and flooding, and without them impacts of extreme weather events will probably be higher,” Michalis Vousdoukas, the lead author of the study, said in a statement. “We have to prepare.”

Unfortunately, the researchers noted that beach loss caused by global warming is inevitable. Even if the world manages to significantly reduce fossil fuel pollution, over a third of the world’s shorelines could still vanish.

According to the scientists’ calculations, about 95,000 kilometers of shoreline would disappear in 2100 if the world limit’s the current rise in global temperature. Although this still seems a lot, it is far better than the projected 132,000 kilometers of coastline-loss, which will happen in 2100 if nothing is done about global warming.