Ice Melt Imperils Baby Seals

Report adds 2 to 3 feet to global sea level prediction

(NEWSER) - Global sea levels are likely to raise two or three feet more than previously predicted this century, because the Arctic is melting significantly faster than expected, scientists conclude in a new report being presented to international officials today. The report, which examined the past six years' worth of data, predicts a 35- to 63-inch rise over 1990 levels by 2100. That's a drastic departure from a 2007 climate change report by the UN that predicted a 7- to 23-inch rise in sea levels, MSNBC reports. More»

Ice sheets could send sea level up 6 inches by 2050

(NEWSER) - The ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are melting significantly faster than previously estimated, according to a new international report led by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Unless the trend is reversed, the melting ice sheets will push global sea levels up six inches by 2050, the scientists found. More»

Negotiators appear ready to extend, build on Kyoto protocol

(NEWSER) - New draft proposals at the Copenhagen summit have renewed optimism that negotiators will find consensus on a substantial deal. One plan would renew and extend the Kyoto protocol—this time, presumably, with a US endorsement—which is set to expire in 2012. Another draft proposal, framed as a "Kyoto companion" calls for more action from developing countries, which get something of a pass in the Kyoto agreement. More»

Checking global warming requires 'green revolution'

(NEWSER) - Disastrous climate change is inevitable unless the world begins cutting carbon emissions within the next five years, the World Wildlife Fund warns in a new report. Ahead of December's clutch Copenhagen summit, meant to forge a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, the fund repeats that global temperature rises could stay below 2°C if greenhouse gas emissions are halved by 2050. But to do that, the world must invest in a "green industrial revolution," focused on low-carbon fuels like wind and solar, between now and 2014. More»

(NEWSER) - Three major glaciers in Alaska and Washington state have rapidly shrunk over the last 50 years due to global warming—and the melting is accelerating as the climate changes, notes a government study released yesterday. The glaciers, chosen as "benchmarks" because their conditions closely parallel those of thousands of others, are in different climates and elevations but all have lost large amount of ice as conditions become warmer and drier, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»