Global warming - sea rise and Antarctica

摘要

Sea levels aiound the world will rise by at least a foot in the next 150 years. This was the stark message from a two-day conference, Evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet new understanding and challenges, held at The Royal Society in London late lastyear. The current rate of sea level rise is 1.8 mm a year and is thought to result from three products of global warming: about half of the rise is from the thermal expansion of the world's oceans, but the speeding up of glaciers into the sea and the melting of ice sheets adjacent to sea water are also major contributors.