Ricardo ZorzettoSantos: beaches may be submerged and part of the city isolatedRicardo Zorzetto
What would happen to the Santos plain if in 2100 the level of the sea were to rise by 1.5 meters because of climate change? Hydraulics researchers from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo have constructed a physical model that reproduces the 1000 sq. km. of the Santos and São Vicente estuaries and their coastline and have simulated the effects of this alteration. In the Environment Monitoring Assessment, published in September, one of the consequences they highlighted is the probable isolation of the Ponta da Praia region, close to the port of Santos, from the rest of the city because of flooding. In Guarujá, São Vicente and Praia Grande, some of the beaches will be submerged affecting densely populated areas. The 1.5 meter rise in sea level on the Sao Paulo coast is not an absurd scenario. In 2005 there were three meter high waves and a rise of 80 centimeters in the sea level in the Bay of Santos during a violent storm.
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