An international team of ecologists and specialists in the study of the Earth predicted a significant rise of the oceans in the next 250 years, writes Nature.
For the study, the experts surveyed more than 100 scientists who have published at least six works on change of level of the world ocean. They were asked to give their own forecast of possible rise of water at different variants of carbon dioxide emissions.
The forecasts were more pessimistic than the assumptions in effect when the UN intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC). They predicted a rise in global sea level by 1.1 meters by 2100 in a worst case scenario.
However, the interviewed researchers said that by this time it can be recorded in indicator 1.3 meters. To 2300 year experts predict a raise in five meters. One of the authors Stefan Rahmstorf from the University of Potsdam believes that the reason for these significant changes – the melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctica.
“the Amount which was there enough ice to raise global sea levels by 65 metres if all the ice melts. This means that we can’t afford to lose even a small percentage of this ice cover,” – said Rahmstorf.
A recent study by NASA showed that because of global warming the Greenland ice sheet is losing an average of 200 gigatonnes of ice per year, and the ice of Antarctica on average is 118 gigatons. Scientists note that one gigatonne of ice is enough to fill 400 thousand Olympic swimming pools.
