Rising NI fights global warming

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Global warming-related sea level rises around Northern Ireland are being cancelled out by a rising landmass, new research has suggested.

The Queen's University study indicates that most land in NI is actually rising at present.

This is in response to having been suppressed by the last ice age.

"But we're going to get to a point at around 2020 when crustal rise is cancelled out by sea-level rise," said Professor Julian Orford.

"At the moment we're actually lucky if you look at places like south-east England."

Professor Orford, of Queen's School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, said in such areas "relative sea levels (as measured against the land) are already rising, if even by just a couple of millimetres a year".

Forward planning

The coastal scientist added that one of the key implications from the research was "to highlight that we probably have about 10 to 20 years during which we should be thinking about how we're going to deal with this increase in sea level" including the contentious issue of retreating from coastal areas.

A scientist collecting sea level change data

Professor Orford said his findings were of particular significance to somewhere like Belfast, which is a "very low lying coastal town and will have to take up the prospect of real sea-level rises in its future planning".

He also warned that coastal parts of southern and north western Northern Ireland, such as the Carlingford Lough area, may not even have this 10 to 20-year period of grace.

Furthermore, by 2020 the rest of Northern Ireland should prepare to experience a relative sea level rise of several millimetres a year in excess of any land uplift.

Professor Orford's research on relative sea level change, which has been carried out in association with the Environmental and Heritage Service, is due to be published in full later this year.