First sea-level records for coastal community protection – the European Space Agency

South Georgia Island, 2018 (courtesy of European Space Agency: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO via Flickr).

Satellites have revolutionised our ability to measure sea level but their data becomes less reliable near coasts…To address this critical gap, ESA’s Climate Change Initiative Sea Level Project research team has reprocessed almost two decades of satellite data to establish a pioneering network of ‘virtual’ coastal stations. These stations now provide, for the first time, reliable and consistent sea-level measurements along coastlines…

Ghana’s vanishing coast: Climate change is eroding historic site – France 24

A view of the ruins of an ancient European fort at Keta. The devastation of the fort is largely due to sea erosion in the Keta area 2012 (by Gameli Adzaho Gameli Adzaho, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia).

In the Ghanaian city of Keta, a key part of the country’s history there is under threat from climate change. Fort Prinz en-stein, which was once a grim clog in the transatlantic slave trade, is now a shell of itself because of rising seas levels, relentless erosion and human neglect. Activists are now urging the government to act fast to preserve the UNESCO world heritage site…

Colombia’s Receding Coastline – Jacobin

View of the Atrato River Delta, Colombia, March 27, 2007 (Courtesy of NASA - taken by an Expedition 14 crewmember onboard the International Space Station shows the Atrato River Delta and Gulf of Urabá in Colombia CC BY-NC 2.0 via Flickr).

In Colombia, coastal erosion caused by a combination of climate change and environmentally destructive industrial agriculture is displacing the country’s poorest citizens. But the scale of the disaster means that it has no easy solutions…