Rate Of Sea Level Rise Faster Than Thought - NASA [View All]

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BROOKLIN, Canada, Dec 15 (IPS) - The predicted rise in sea levels caused by the world's changing climate will have to be revised upward after U.S. scientists recorded accelerated melting of ice in the Arctic and Antarctic, one researcher said this week.

New and updated satellite data from Greenland, the Canadian Arctic and Antarctica show parts of these regions are rapidly melting and contributing three times as much than previously believed to sea level rise.

"This is the first time researchers have been able to get real data on this," said Waleed Abdalati, a researcher at the Goddard Space Flight Centre of the U.S National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Abdalati and NASA colleagues presented their findings at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco this week. The melting appears to be in direct response to the surface air temperature warming in these regions. What is alarming is how quickly these massive ice sheets are responding to temperature increases of around 2C, said the scientists."

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