Sea level rise likely to be double what’s predicted

NEW ZEALAND – A prominent New Zealand research scientist said sea level rise from the Antarctic ice sheet may be twice that of previous estimates.

Victoria University of Wellington’s director of the Antarctic Research Centre Tim Naish was a speaker at the Pacific Climate Change Convention on Thursday in Wellington.

He is working on a new project to improve estimates of sea level rise around New Zealand and the Pacific.

Dr Naish said the last assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may have underestimated the Antarctic contribution to rising sea levels.

He said a high emissions pathway could be even worse than formerly understood.

“We may have under-estimated the Antarctic contribution by one metre by the end of the century.

“So add another metre to the one metre we’re already predicting for the future global sea level,” he said.

Dr Naish echoes the stance of Samoa’s prime minister that temperature rise should be limited to 1.5 degrees Celcius above pre-industrial levels and that the two degrees commitment of the Pacific COP meeting is too high. - RNZI