Warning of rising seas alarmist and wrong
December 6th, 2010 - 2:56 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Dec 6 (IANS) Predictions that global warming could cause sea levels to rise by six feet in the next century are alarmist and wrong.
The forecast made by the influential 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which would have seen cities around the world submerged by water, now looks “unlikely”.
The 2007 analysis was criticised last year after it was found to have wrongly claimed Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035.
A Met Office study in Britain also rules out the shutdown of the Atlantic Ocean’s conveyor belt, which would trigger Arctic winters in Britain like those seen in the film “The Day After Tomorrow”, reports the Daily Mail.
The new Met Office report is the first serious attempt to update the science of global warming since the publication of the IPCC Fourth Assessment.
The new government-funded study says the worst case scenario is now a one-metre (3.3 ft) rise. However, the report says the IPCC was right to warn of a sea level rise of up to two feet by 2100, and that a three-feet rise could happen.
The IPCC underestimated the danger posed by the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and the release of methane from warmer wetlands, the report adds.
Vicky Pope, head of climate science at the Met Office, said: “In most cases, our new understanding has reinforced results from the IPCC report - and the degree of impact is about the same.”
The Met Office analysis comes as world ministers meet in Cancun, Mexico, for the second week of the UN climate change talks.
- Alarm bells over Greenland ice melt - Oct 26, 2011
- 'UN warning over Himalayan glacier meltdown based on speculation' - Jan 17, 2010
- Greenland ice melted more than Antartica's - Aug 01, 2011
- Believe it or not - glaciers are growing! - Jan 28, 2011
- IPCC looking for communications manager to tackle crisis situation - Dec 27, 2010
- India will fight attempts to unseat Pachauri: Jairam Ramesh - Mar 15, 2010
- Global warming causing Himalayan glacier to diminish each year - Jun 09, 2012
- Global warming curbs won't prevent steep sea rise - Mar 21, 2012
- Greenland ice most vulnerable to global warming - Mar 12, 2012
- Hot season triggers 100 bn tonnes Greenland ice loss - Dec 11, 2011
- Pumping groundwater may cause rise in sea level: Study - May 09, 2012
- Pachauri too doubts if glaciers would vanish by 2035 (Lead) - Jan 18, 2010
- Mountain glacier melt-off to raise sea level by 12 cm by 2100 - Jan 11, 2011
- IPCC ignored leading scientists' warning on false Himalayan glaciers report - Jan 31, 2010
- Pachauri won't quit over glacier blunder (Lead) - Jan 23, 2010
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