Quote of the Day: One Foot Sea Level Rise by 2050

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From a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters:

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are losing mass at an accelerating pace, according to a new NASA-funded satellite study. The findings of the study — the longest to date of changes in polar ice sheet mass — suggest these ice sheets are overtaking ice loss from Earth’s mountain glaciers and ice caps to become the dominant contributor to global sea level rise, much sooner than model forecasts have predicted.

Joe Romm has more. The study estimates total sea level rise by 2050 of just over a foot. That’s only 40 years away, and it would make storm damage far worse than it is today, especially in poor, low-lying areas. I’ll be dead by then, but the rest of you have been warned.

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