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The UK’s sea level is rising faster than the global average and at an accelerating rate, scientists have warned in a study that also shows how climate change is making Britain hotter and wetter as extremes of weather “become the norm”.
Sea levels have risen by 13.4cm in the UK since 1993, compared with a global average of 10.6cm, according to the annual state of the UK climate report published on Monday.
Svetlana Jevrejeva, a scientist at the National Oceanography Centre and co-author of the research, said the report for 2024 was the first time it had noted that the UK’s sea level rise was above the global average.
“For a long time, [based] on observations, our rate of sea level rise was very close to the global estimate, but over the last 30 years we have started to see a departure,” she said, citing ocean warming and currents as possible factors. This “intensifies coastal hazards” around the country, she added.
The report — which was carried out by scientists at the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service, as well as NOC and other institutions — found the number of very hot days had quadrupled in the most recent decade compared with the previous 30 years.
The study defines very hot days as days at least 10C above the 1961-1990 average.
The hottest days experienced in the UK have increased in frequency dramatically in just a few decades, according to the study, which was published in the International Journal of Climatology.
The UK is also becoming wetter, the report found: between 2015 and 2024 the winter half-year between October and March, was 16 per cent on average wetter than the 1961-1990 period. Warmer air holds more moisture, making rainfall often more likely.
Mike Kendon, Met Office climate scientist and lead author of the report, which is based on observations dating as far as the 19th century, said it provided “hard evidence” of the extent of climate change in the UK.
“It’s very clear that our climate is changing right now,” he said. “Breaking records and seeing these extremes is becoming the norm.”
“It is the extreme temperature and rainfall that is changing the most and that is a profound concern, and that will continue in the future,” said Kenton, warning of serious implications for infrastructure and public health.
Hot years now are likely to become average years by 2050 and be considered cool by 2100, Kendon added. Last month, England experienced its hottest June on record, which followed the sunniest and warmest spring registered for the UK.
The country is now experiencing another warm spell, following consecutive heatwaves in June, and last week water companies announced hosepipe bans in Yorkshire, Kent and Sussex.
Several wildfires have broken out across the UK in recent days, including in London, where the fire service had warned of an increased risk of vegetation blazes owing to dry, hot conditions.
Jevrejeva said more research was needed to understand the rise in the UK’s sea level. The study showed sea level around the UK had risen by 19.5cm since 1901, with two-thirds of the increase occurring in the past three decades.
Sea level rise is linked to various factors such as ice melt and the expansion of the ocean as it heats up, but the increase was “not uniform globally”, she added.
The UK’s proximity to the north Atlantic ocean, which has experienced repeated extreme marine heatwaves in recent years, its shallow waters and global currents may have contributed but need further investigation, scientists said.
In terms of nature, earlier springs were the most notable reaction, such as plants flowering and animals laying eggs or building nests earlier, they added.
Ed Miliband, energy security secretary, said the report “should alarm us all”.
“The science is clear — extreme weather is getting more frequent and intense,” he said, adding that the government was “taking action on the climate and nature crisis”.
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