20130329 - antarctic ice

Unexpected Antarctic ice melt 

may trigger 2 metre sea level rise

A massive rise in sea level is coming, and it will trigger climate chaos around the world. That was the message from a controversial recent paper by climate scientist James Hansen. It was slated by many for assuming – rather than showing – that sea level could rise between 1 and 5 metres by 2100.

But now, just a week after being formally published, it is being backed up by another study. “He was speculating on massive fresh water discharge to the ocean that I don’t think anybody thought was possible before,” says Rob DeConto of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “Now we’re publishing a paper that says these rates of fresh water input are possible.”

DeConto’s findings suggest that even if countries meet the pledges made as part of the UN climate agreements in Paris last year, global sea level could still rise 1 metre by 2100. If emissions keep climbing it could go up more than 2 metres. North America would be especially hard hit, because gravitational effects mean that ice loss from Antarctica will lead to bigger local increases for the US East Coast.

“Today we’re measuring global sea level rise in millimetres per year,” DeConto says. “We’re talking about the potential for centimetres per year just from [ice loss in] Antarctica.”

 https://www.newscientist.com/article/2082628-unexpected-antarctic-ice-melt-may-trigger-2-metre-sea-level-rise/