Paris: Melting ice from Antarctica could raise oceans by a meter before 2100 at current rates of greenhouse gas emissions, doubling previous forecasts for sea level rise, according to a study released Wednesday (Thursday in Manila). Such an abrupt change would spell disaster for major cities and coastal areas across the globe, forcing hundreds of millions of people to seek higher ground. Over a longer timescale, the study concluded, the picture is even grimmer: within 500 years, Earth’s once-frozen continent will have lifted water lines by more than 15 meters (50 feet), reconfiguring the planet’s coastlines.

Antarctica ice to double sea rise-study. (2016, April 01). The Manila Times, p. A8.