Date:29/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/29/stories/2008082960560600.htm

Tamil Nadu

Many coastal areas face the threat of submergence

Staff Reporter

Thermal expansion of seawater will cause sea level to rise

TIRUCHI: Thermal expansion of seawater and massive ice melt will cause the sea level to rise by 1.1 metres, submerging areas such as Ponneri–Pulicat, Mamallapuram, the north of Puducherry, Nagapattinam-Vedaranyam and Tuticorin in another 100 years, indicates a study undertaken by a team of the Centre for Excellence in Remote Sensing, Bharathidasan University.

Funded by the Indian Space Research Organisation, the study of the possible impact of sea level rise was undertaken with remote sensing and geomatics technologies by SM. Ramasamy, head of the centre, and C.J. Kumanan and J. Saravanavel, faculty members, in the wake of the prediction of the Inter Governmental Panel for Climate Change that the global sea level might rise by 0.59 metre before 2100. The study throws light on the upward and downward tectonic movements of the coast, topographic conditions and geomorphic processes. The possible zones of lateral inundation of the land were visualised using fine resolution 3D topographic surface models derived from the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission data. As per the preliminary understanding, mangroves, marshland, creeks, saltpans and aquaculture fields would get submerged by 42- 60 per cent of their present aerial extent.