The authors of the study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, don’t give an exact timeframe, but researchers say most of this development could happen by the year 2100. Previous forecasts would thus underestimate the risk for this century.
In a report from last year, for example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assumed that sea levels would rise by 18 centimeters by the year 2100 in its scenario with the highest greenhouse gas emissions.
The “shocking” results of the now published study are also the lower limit because the estimates do not take into account future global warming, explained lead author Jason Box of the Geological Research Institute for Denmark and Greenland (Geus). The climate around Greenland only has to warm up further for the effect to be amplified.
According to the study, if the massive 2012 meltdown were repeated every year, sea levels could rise by 78 centimeters – enough to swallow up large parts of low-lying coastal areas and make their inhabitants homeless.
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