If greenhouse gas emissions are not put to check, by 2100, a sea level rise of 2 metres is expected with the displacement of several millions of people, as per a new study released in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
This estimated result is only in the worst case scenario wherein the temperatures globally would warm over 5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.
The rise in sea levels will take place due to the contribution from the melting of ice sheets in Greenland. Moreover, these ice sheets have enough water which is frozen and can lift the oceans of the world a dozen of metres.
In its fifth Assessment Report in 2013, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had stated that sea levels would rise by 2100. However, since then, greenhouse gas emissions saw a rise each year with satellites displaying increased melting rates from ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland.
Last year in October, a report released by IPCC said that a drastic reduction was needed immediately in the consumption of coal, gas as well as oil so as to curb the rise in greenhouse gases levels but that report did not talk about the revisited sea level rise estimates.
Due to this estimated rise, humanity will suffer profoundly. While the estimated sea level rise of two metres is plausible, it is something which should make humans consider planning as well as adapting to these sea level rises.
Since the pre industrial era, there has been a degree of increase in global temperatures with 3 mm rise in sea levels every year.
Image Credit: scientificamerican.com
