FEBRUARY 2007

Rising sea levels threaten Inishowen

The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany has found that by the end of the century, Irish sea levels could rise by 0.5 - 1.4 metres. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) findings predicted sea levels could rise by 28-43 centimetres by 2001. The new climate change reports could spell danger for Inishowen. The IPCC also reported global warming was likely to create more intense storms, temperatures would rise between 1.8 and four degrees centigrade and there would be an increase in heatwaves.

Peter Lynch, University College Dublin professor of meteorology said the IPCC report ended doubt about climate change. He said, "It should shut the sceptics up. The three-degree increase in temperature predicted is well above the danger point of two degrees. Inishowen is stormy enough already. It's going to get stormier and the annual cycle of rainfall will increase."

Dr. Rowan Fealy, a scientist with the Irish climate Analysis and Research Units (Icarus) at NUI Maynooth, said, "Inishowen is one of the better places to live in Ireland in relation to sea-level rises because, since the ice sheet from the last ice-age retreated and melted, the northern half of Ireland has been slowly rising. Despite this, current sea-level rise is outpacing the rate of rise and consequently, sea level is rising relative to the land, albeit at a lesser rate than southern Ireland, in this region. While the west coast of Ireland is generally comprised of consolidated material, low lying regions will be under threat from rising sea levels, particularly if they are comprised of soft, unconsolidated material. Coastal regions like Ballyness and Rossapenna and Lough Foyle may be particularly prone as the type of shoreline here is comprised of sand dunes and beach ridges."

Dr Fealy said Inishowen will suffer the added complicated of a significant increase in rainfall by approximately 20 per cent by the middle of the century. Already, rainfall increases in Malin Head have been in the order of 40 percent over the course of the 20th century and this situation is likely to be further exacerbated with global warming. He said: "If heavy falls of rain occur with a high tide and a storm surge then the likelihood for flooding is very high as the overland and river drainage will be greatly impeded."

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