Sea Level
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Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow for the Mount Washington Observatory and today on the Weather Notebook, correspondent Robin White looks at how changes in sea level will affect different countries as the world's climate warms:

RW: Current estimates from the International Panel on Climate Change are that sea level could go up as much as one foot over the next century as a result of global warming. Phil Jones is a professor at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. Jones says the first areas of the world likely to feel impacts of rising sea levels are areas are already sinking like in the county of Norfolk where he lives.

PJ: You can go to the coast one weekend and some areas look different this weekend if there's been a major series of storms. The slight rise in sea level is causing quite dramatic changes to coastlines around our region and we have to make decisions here about which bits of coastline to defend.

RW: Jones says of course you defend parts of the coast where people live but some areas of coastal Britain may be sacrificed because even this developed country doesn't have infinite resources. The situation in developing countries will be much more difficult.

PJ: Developing countries can't cope at the moment with the storms and the slight rises in sea level and it's those countries where the biggest effects are going to be felt from sea level rise.

RW: All storms are accompanied by a rise in sea level due to low air pressure and countries like Bangladesh and India already experience great hardship when large storms come onshore. One country which does have a jump on the situation is the Netherlands. The low lying country across the North Sea from East Anglia experienced devastating flooding in the 1950s with thousands of deaths. Subsequently the Dutch built massive sea defences which now protect the entire coastline and will be able to handle any future sea level rise.