Two German experts predict sea levels will rise three feet this century, higher than the seven inches to two feet previously estimated in other studies.
Deutsche-Presse Agentur and Expatica.com report that scientists with the Potsdam Institute for Research on Global Warming Effects came to their results using new data that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change did not have access to.
Among the new findings: Arctic ice loss has doubled or tripled since 2005.
One of the scientists, Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the institute and an adviser to German chancellor Angela Merkel, said that it is “just barely possible” that global governments, if they drastically reduce carbon emissions, will be able to limit climate change.
He also told Bloomburg News last month that there was a 50 percent chance of capping global warming to just 3.6 degrees by 2100, which, according to his findings, would avoid the brunt of the ecological damage.
Schellnhuber warned that since air pollution from cars and power plants inadvertently have a cooling effect, cutting pollution must be matched by deep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions, so as not to raise rather than lower temperatures.
–Lauren Riggs/Newsdesk.org
Sources:
“Sea levels expected to rise higher within this century”
Expatica, October 30, 2008
“Clean-Air Policies May Accelerate Warming Trend, Scientist Says”
Bloomberg, October 9, 2008