Chennai, Mumbai And 10 Other Cities Likely To Sink Due To Rising Sea Level, NASA Tool Predicts

The coastal cities including Chennai, Kochi, Visakhapatnam and Mumbai are on the verge of high risk and can go underwater by three feet by the end of the century. 

Rise in sea level would be due to climate change

Chennai: Nearly 12 coastal cities of India sitting on the bank of the Indian coastline are likely to face the wrath of going underwater due to the increased risk of rising sea levels, said a report by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The coastal cities including Chennai, Kochi, Visakhapatnam, and Mumbai face high risk and can go underwater by three feet by the end of the century.

The Sea Level Change Team at NASA has created a sea-level projection tool that makes extensive data on sea-level rise in the future from the IPCC easily accessible to the public. According to a report from NASA that has used the outcome of the IPCC report, NASA's tool predicted 12 cities including Chennai, Tuticorin, Kochin, Visakhapatnam, Khidirpur, Paradeep, Kandla, Okha, Bhavnagar, Mumbai, Mormugao, and Mangalore will face adverse reactions due to the fast increasing sea level around Asia than the global average, as per a report. 

Besides, a study published in the journal, Nature Communications, in 2019 had also predicted a similar threat for Mumbai, saying it is at the risk of being submerged by 2050.

The initial projections based on the current trends revealed that the cities will go underwater by a depth of: 

Chennai: 1.87 feet

Tuticorin: 1.9 feet

Visakhapatnam: 1.77 feet 

Cochin: 2.32 feet

Mangalore: 1.87 feet

Mumbai: 1.90 feet

Okha: 1.96 feet

Kandla: 1.87 feet

Bhavnagar: 2.70 feet

Paradip: 1.93 feet

Khidirpur: 0.49 feet

However, if the projected rate of climate change continues then these cities may likely go underwater by at least three feet within the century. The increase in sea levels will also adversely increase the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas and will directly or indirectly affect over a billion people.