May 6, 2021
Two new studies showing that if you are uncertain about what is exactly going on in Antarctica, and what it means for long term sea level, you are pretty much keeping up with the science.
Scientists struggling to understand the threat of sea level rise on a warming Earth found Wednesday that amid lingering uncertainty, this much is clear: Meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement remains humanity’s best hope for preserving current coastlines in the 21st century.
At the same time, they diverged over the risks posed by the biggest wild card, the Antarctic ice sheet, which contains by far the most ice on the planet and holds the potential to unleash tens of feet of sea level rise.
A pair of scientific studies find we can still probably avert extreme sea level rise but also show how little scientists still understand about the biggest threat, Antarctica.
Emissions cuts could halve the impact of melting ice on oceans
By Henry Fountain New York Times,Updated May 5, 2021, 5:23 p.m.
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Scientists Wednesday reported another reason the world should sharply rein in global warming: Doing so would likely cut in half the current projected amount of sea level rise from the melting of ice this century.
In a study that averaged results of hundreds of computer simulations from research teams around the world, the scientists said that limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius could reduce sea level rise from melting glaciers and the vast Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets from about 10 inches to about 5 by 2100.
Emissions Cuts Could Drop the Impact of Melting Ice on Oceans by Half
A new study said that limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius could reduce sea level rise from melting ice sheets from about 10 inches to about five by 2100.
The melting Longyearbreen glacier during a heat wave on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard last summer.Credit.Sean Gallup/Getty Images
May 5, 2021Updated 12:25 p.m. ET
Scientists on Wednesday reported another reason the world should sharply rein in global warming: doing so would likely cut in half the current projected amount of sea level rise from the melting of ice this century.
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Physicist Steven Koonin, a former BP chief scientist and Obama administration energy official, seeks to downplay climate change risk in his new book, “Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What it Doesn’t and Why it Matters.”
His critics say he often draws general conclusions from specific slices of data or uncertainties (sometimes signaled by key words or phrases.) As a result, they say, his statements are frequently misleading, and often leave the reader with the incorrect impression climate scientists are hiding the truth.
“Identifying, quantifying, and reducing uncertainties in models and observations is an integral part of climate science,” said atmospheric scientist Benjamin Santer of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. “The climate science community discusses uncertainties in an open and transparent way, and has done so for decades. It is simply untrue that Prof. Koonin is confronting climate scientists with unpleasant facts they h