Bermuda is set to face further coastal erosion and deeper sea surges in the future due to global warming, Natural History Museum curator Dr Wolfgang Sterrer warned yesterday.

He spoke out after inspecting a major section of Elbow Beach which has been washed away due to recent heavy seas, leaving a five foot sand wall.

The nearby Stonington Beach is also washed away.

Dr Sterrer said Bermuda's coastline eroded by between 20 and 30 centimetres in the last century, but scientists predict that due to global warming, sea levels around Bermuda will rise by up to 100 centimetres in the coming century.

He told The Royal Gazette yesterday that Bermuda's beaches always build up during the spring as sand is swept gently ashore by waves, but heavy waves in the winter claw back much of the sand.

"We now may be seeing an increase in shore erosion every year. Every year there does seem to be a little more erosion and it may have to do with the fact that sea levels are rising slowly but steadily and this has been linked to global warming," he said.

"The predictions are also that we will have more and heavier hurricanes, which also seems to be the case.

"With these hurricanes we are getting stronger sea surges that hit Bermuda's shores.

"During Hurricane Gert two years ago, huge pockmarks were left on the South shore. It was as if heavy artillery has hit the South shore.

"With higher sea levels, every storm surge will surge further into the shore, and that is definitely what we'll see in Bermuda and we may see more erosion of our beaches and rocky shore.

"The Planning Department has advertised for a study to be done on Bermuda's shore erosion to get some idea of the scale and what can be done."

But Dr. Sterrer said Bermuda was much better placed than many islands because it was not very low lying.