Question (Hon. Oscar S. Rodriquez, MP, PHILIPPINES):

Thank you. Professor, did I get you correctly in your presentation that, due to dally evLrporation of water, particularly from the sea, that there is a gradua l reduction of water volume In the sea, and therefore the widening of the land area. If it is really so, If it's cor-rect, how long will it take for the Mothe r Earth to be witnessing a majorlty of its area as desert, and the final remova l of water globally?

Dr. Uchijima

The answer to the question you've asked, as I said at the very outset of my pre sentation, water evaporates from the ocean surface into the atmosphere. It will then precipltate and llow again into the sea. So the amount of water in these three spheres, the sea, the land and the atmosphere, is constant. So, your ques tion is, should we worry that all the water from the oceans would be evaporated and the oceans would be dried up? Seventy percent of the global surface Is the sea, and I don't think that this is going to change in the future. The importa nt thing is that there will be a global warming of the Earth. According to the IPCC's predlction, by the year 2100 there will be a sea level rise of 60 centim eters, and thcre will be a geometric expansion of the sea water due to the glob al warming. And the remaining rise is due to the melting of the mountain glacie rs, from which water would flow Into oceans. Rather than worrying about the dry ing up of oceans, because of the global warming, the sea level will rise, and t his sea level rise will certainly affect the hu-man beings.

Chairperson :

Any more comments? If there are no more comments, I will close today's session. And I thank you again, Dr. Uchijima.