Rising sea levels threaten North Wales roads and coastal railway links, warn Bangor University academics

This is the warning from Bangor University oceanographers Dr Yueng Dern Lenn and Dr Mattias Green, who have published new book 30 Second Oceans that includes 50 contributions from eminent climate scientists around the world.

“Both those major infrastructure links are very close to the coast and already flood due to heavy rain and will be at risk as sea levels rise," said Dr Green, originally from Gothenburg, Sweden.

“A combination of heavy rain and a storm surge from the sea and we’ll be in trouble."

Coastal flooding rates are expected to increase globally by 50 per cent over the next 80 years, with millions of homes and businesses across the UK facing an uncertain future.

That includes the threat of higher tides and more frequent storm surges that could hit key transport routes including the North Wales Coast railway to Holyhead.

'30 Second Oceans'. Picture: Mandy Jones

“The railway line would go first, between Bangor and Llandudno would be the first section affected, and there are places along the North Wales coast that will flood, particularly in North West Wales," said Dr Green, who lives in Glan Conwy.

“We have already seen the Conwy Valley railway line, which runs four or five trains a day, closed several times in recent years and the track has been washed away by flooding.

“Add in a rise in sea level and it will be worse so it is inevitable that flood defences will have to be put in place at very high cost.

“In the UK we can probably afford that but elsewhere in the world, India, Bangladesh and the Maldives, for example, many low-lying countries simply can’t afford those kinds of defences.”

'30 Second Oceans' Picture: Mandy Jones

Germany is already building sea defences on its North Sea coast to cope with a half metre rise in sea level and those defences are designed to be easily increased by a further metre to future-proof the shore.

Dr Green and Dr Lenn, who work at the Bangor University's School of Ocean Sciences located on the Menai Strait, enlisted colleagues and academic experts from around the world to contribute to 30 Second Oceans.

It aims to be accessible to people of all walks of life and covers 50 topics about oceans, such as waves and tides work, their depth, weather and climate, as well as ocean pollution, including light and noise and plastic, and how they can be stopped.

Dr Lenn, originally from Singapore and a graduate of the University of San Diego, in California, said: “We saw this book as an opportunity to improve representation within ocean sciences by including many women scientists and colleagues from all levels of academia from early career scientists to celebrated professors. Together our authors hail from 22 institutions and represent many more countries.

“The oceans span the globe and have an impact on us all. We have already seen a community just south of Barmouth where the local council have decided they can’t defend it from the sea.

"It’s like the proverb about not buying a house built on sand, because living by the sea is all well and good but the challenge for the UK is the effect of more extreme weather on where we live and where the sea starts.”