Sea Level Rising Faster Than U.N. Forecast
The experts said satellite data showed sea levels rose annually by 3.2 millimeters (0.1 inch) from 1993 to 2011, which is 60 percent faster than the 2 mm projected by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
"This suggests that IPCC sea-level projections for the future may also be biased low," the team wrote in the scientific journal Environmental Research Letters.
Lead author Stefan Rahmstorf, a researcher at Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said the results validate the assertion that global warming has not slowed or lagged behind projections.
"The IPCC is far from being alarmist and in fact in some cases rather underestimate possible risks," Rahmstorf said.
The IPCC had estimated that sea levels rose by about 7 inches during the last century. In its most recent report published in 2007, it estimated a range between 7 and 23 inches this century, which is enough to worsen coastal flooding and erosion during strong storms.
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