Presentation
Into
the Future:
Ice Volume and and Sea Level Changes
The warming over the
next century could significantly reduce the Arctic and Antarctic sea ice
cover and trigger instabilities in the marine-based West Antarctic Ice
Sheet, and perhaps affect the much larger land-based East Antarctic Ice
Sheet. Melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet alone could cause a world
wide sea-level rise of approximately 8 m. The potential sea-level rise
after melting the entire Antarctic ice sheet is estimated to be 73 m.
With most of the world’s populations living in low-lying coastal areas,
a sea level rise of only 1 m would already be devastating for billions
of people on Earth!
