Key highlights of data provided by Ministry of Earth Sciences:
- Sea level rise in the country has been estimated to be 1.3 mm/year along India’s coasts during the last 40-50 years.
- Four ports in India — Diamond Harbour, Kandla, Haldia and Port Blair — recorded a higher sea level rise than the global average of 1.8 mm per year during the last 40-50 years.
- At Diamond Harbour – located in West Bengal at the mouth of river Hooghly – the rise was almost five times higher than the national average at 5.16 mm per year over the period from 1948 to 2005.
- The sea level rise is higher in West Bengal, particularly in the Sunderbans delta is because of the deltaic sediment deposition as a result of the mixing of fresh water and saline water, according to experts.
- Chennai and Mumbai, recorded a sea level rise far below the global and the national averages at 0.33 mm per year (1916-2005) and 0.74 mm (1878-2005) respectively.
