Via Ben Armbruster, the US Geological Survey says previous reports may have been too optimistic about the likely rise in sea levels facing the United States:
In one of the report’s most worrisome findings, the agency estimates that in light of recent ice sheet melting, global sea levels could rise as much as 4 feet by 2100. The intergovernment panel had projected a rise of no more than 1.5 feet by that time, but satellite data over the last two years show the world’s major ice sheets are melting much more rapidly than previously thought. The Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are losing an average of 48 cubic miles of ice a year, equivalent to twice the amount of ice in the Alps.
But there was unseasonable snow somewhere last week, so I’d say continuing to ignore this problem makes a lot of sense.
Previous in TP Yglesias
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