Researchers describe the future of European countries bordering the Atlantic as "alarming". A sea level rise of at least one metre by the end of the century is to be expected.

According to the study, the direct impacts of global climate change are evident in several respects: the surface temperature of the Atlantic has risen by almost one degree Celsius since the 1890s, while the pH of seawater has dropped by around 0.1 pH units. And not least, sea levels rose by eleven to sixteen centimetres during the 20th century — a process that is likely to accelerate further given the melting glaciers and ice sheets in Greenland.

Water masses on the move

"European countries would be well advised to prepare for a rise of one metre or more by 2100," said Michael Norton, Environment Director of EASAC, the umbrella organisation of European science academies. This increase is not solely due to a combination of thermal expansion of the oceans and the additional water from melting ice masses. The loss of Antarctic ice mass in particular is expected to have a significant influence, as its gravitational pull on the oceans is changing as a result...

More on this at: science.orf.at