Title: Sea Surface Temperature : Ocean Health Index
Headings: Sea Surface Temperature
Sea Surface Temperature
Overview
How Was It Measured?
What Are The Impacts?
Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in Relation to Air Surface Pressure and El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
ECOLOGICAL IMPACT
HUMAN HEALTH IMPACT
ECONOMIC IMPACT
What Has Been Done?
Get More Information
United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
References

Content: Sea level rise will be most apparent in locations that are subsiding geologically and less apparent in locations subject to geologic uplift. The rate of global sea level rise has increased over the past few decades. In many areas sea level rise will increase the rate of coastal erosion and flooding. Saltwater will contaminate coastal groundwater, jeopardizing water sources used for drinking and agriculture. In some areas surface waters used for growing crops may also be contaminated with salt. Fluctuations in SST have caused a shift in habitat ranges for some potentially harmful marine species, driving them toward populated coastlines and forcing a reassessment of beach practices and usage (e.g. venomous jellyfish ( Pelagia noctiluca) in Great Britain and Portuguese Man-of-War in the North Atlantic). Such problems will affect some of the world's major population centers, because 17 of the world’s 30 largest cities are located in low-lying coastal regions (Fitzgerald 2008). ECONOMIC IMPACT
Increased coastal erosion and flooding associated with SLR may bring enormous social and economic costs for coastal nations, cities and residents, including damage or destruction of roads, railroads, airports, subway systems and buildings, and damage to sewage and water systems. Some low-lying island nations and coastal zones may need to be permanently evacuated, resulting in many ‘sea-level refugees' who will need to relocate. Total global damage costs due to sea-level rise of 1 meter could amount to at least one or two trillion USD (Anthoff 2010;