Even a small amount of sea level rise could expose hundreds more dairy farms near our coasts to flooding, new modelling reveals. Specifically, they sought to quantify the impacts to farms from flood-making extreme sea level events (ESL) - like king and storm tides - with relative sea level rise (RSLR), or the height of the ocean relative to land at different places. At current sea levels, 472 farms were potentially exposed to a one-in-10-year extreme event, while 1276 farms were at risk of a one-in-500-year event. New research finds sea level rise-driven flooding could add to the climate change risks our valuable dairy sector already faces. It showed the rise in danger wasn’t driven by the extreme events themselves – but the fact that background sea level rise caused inundation to occur much more frequently.

Source: New Zealand Herald November 19, 2023 19:54 UTC