Many natural events can cause sea levels to rise. King tides, cyclones and other natural hazards do happen and cause sea levels to rise even more, with tsunami being a major concern. If the sea levels continue to rise then the tides and waves caused by these storms will continue to get bigger. Imagine a tsunami so big that is completely submerges Whitianga.
Hopefully, these pictures and graphs can give you a more visual look into what is happening with the sea levels.
Image taken from NIWA sea level trends powerpoint by Rob Bell.
From the charts and graphs that have been recorded, you can see a steady increase in sea level over the past few decades. Some people have preferred to interpret the dots as decreasing or having simply reached a certain level, like the graph above, but that is not the case. If we put a line through the average dots, you will find that the sea level is rising.
Image taken from NIWA sea level trends power point by Rob Bell.
The graphs above shows recorded sea levels for the past 100 years or so. However, the one below shows what the predicted sea level increase for the next 100 years. The predicted sea level rise is a dramatic increase than the last one, the light blue showing what most people suspect will happen. But some experts say that people should prepare for the increase of over 0.8 of a metre (the dark blue line).
Image from 'Effect of Sea Level Rise for Christchurch City' from the Christchurch City Council.
The picture below is a satellite image of Whitianga. The blue highlights show where water goes at high tides at present day. The Yellow shows the predicted area of where the water of high tides will rise to in the 2050s. And the Red shows the predicted area of where the water of high tides will rise to in the 2090s.
The photo in the middle shows the outcome if a major cyclone where to hit Whitianga. The red covers a significant area of town.
Image from Inundation Map from NIWA
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