Times OnlineMarch 10, 2009

Scientists warn of catastrophic rises in sea level

Lewis Smith, Environment Reporter

Sea levels will rise much faster over the next century than had been
expected even
if governments are successful at controlling greenhouse gas emissions,
scientists warned today.

Advances in the understanding of the mechanisms that control how
quickly ice sheets
 melt have shown that sea levels are likely to rise a metre by 2100.

The estimate is almost double the projection of 20 to 59 cm made in
2007 by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Clinate Change
(IPCC).

Equally worrying, scientists were told at a conference in Copenhagen,
the sea rises will continue to speed up and will have catastrophic
impacts for generations of people.

(...)

"Sea level is rising faster than expected. It's rising much faster
than in the models," he told the audience of hundreds of climate
change researchers.

COULD BE TOO MUCH CLIMATE INTERVENTION

"Sea level rise doesn't stop in 2100. We are setting in motion
processes now that will lead to sea level rises for centuries to come.
They will burden many generations coming after us."

He pointed out that analysis of sea level rises in previous eras has
shown a direct relationship between the amount of ice cover and the
depth of seas.

In the Pleiocene 3 million years ago temperatures were about 3C warmer
than they are today and sea levels were 25-30 metres higher.
Temperatures by the end of the century are forecast to rise by more
than 6C if emissions aren't reduced dramatically and rapidly.

Each degree of temperature is associated with "tens of metres" of sea
level and while he was confident the ice caps will lose nothing like
that over the next 100 or even 200 years, he said the future of the
Arctic and Antarctic will be decided over the next 50 years.

He said: "We could over the next 50 years commit the planet to major
ice losses that would likely lead to the complete loss of ice sheet.

"We maybe committed our planet to major sea level rises that will lose
us many coastal communities."

Professor Rahmstorf was one of several of the world's leading
researchers on sea levels and ice cap melting to address the
conference.

(...)
The worst affected regions of the world are expected to be low-lying
places such as Bangladesh, Burma, much of south east Asia, parts of
Africa, and island states.

Parts of Britain are also likely to suffer severe problems if sea
levels rise significantly, particularly towns and cities such as
London, Hull and Grimsby which were built around their access to the
seas.


Have your say

You see, these experts have no idea, people should just ask the
general public, via the web.
jason, london, uk