Despite what Stephen Baxter says in his new novel Flood, scientists now believe that climate change won’t melt the West Antarctic Ice Sheet for at least 4,000 years.
Andrew Revkin over at the New York Times’ Dot-Earth blog reports that the new study, published in Science, explores how much sea levels would rise as the Antarctic ice sheets melt. Though previous studies had suggested that sea levels could rise as much as 20 feet over the next century – a devastating amount – the new study says it’s more likely to be about 10 feet or less. Keep in mind that these numbers are only relevant to how much the Antarctic will contribute to rising sea levels, and does not account for what will be contributed by the rapid melt of Greenland’s ice sheets.
Find out more in Revkin’s article about the study.
