Letters | Climate change: link between sea level rises and human activity backed by solid science

Readers discuss the evidence for rising sea levels, monkeypox comments from a Chinese official and the cancellation of the Hong Kong marathon

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Women carry belongings salvaged from their flooded home after monsoon rains in the Qambar Shahdadkot district of Sindh province in Pakistan on September 6. Photo: AP

Published: 11:30am, 20 Sep 2022

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We refer to the letter by Wyss Yim (“More research needed to link sea level changes to human-induced global warming”, September 9).

We need to point out that Yim’s conclusion is incorrect. According to the Sixth Assessment Report of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global mean sea level has risen faster since 1900 than over any preceding century in at least the last 3,000 years. The average rate of sea level rise was 1.3mm per year between 1901 and 1971, increasing to 3.7mm per year between 2006 and 2018.

Human influence was very likely the main driver of these increases since 1971. Marine heatwaves have roughly doubled in frequency since the 1980s, and human influence has likely contributed to most of them since at least 2006.

Your readers are reminded that IPCC Assessment Reports are the most authoritative in the assessment of climate change. The reports and statements were compiled based on a large amount of peer-reviewed scientific evidence, representing the global consensus of climate scientists.

Relocating the tide gauge station from North Point to Quarry Bay does not contribute uncertainties to sea-level changes because the two sites are just half a kilometre apart. Comparison of records from both sites for the period of September 1985 to March 1986 shows no noticeable difference.