Coastal sea level rise with warming above 2 °C

07 November 2016

PNAS
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Researchers say urgent action needs to be taken to protect shoreline cities and world heritage sites from coastal flooding, after a new study showed that sea level could be significantly higher than previously thought if global warming exceeds 2°C.

The study, by researchers including Dr Luke Jackson at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School is published today in PNAS, and shows that warming of 2°C, which would occur by 2040 under a business-as-usual scenario, will lead to a global average sea-level rise of 20cm. Crucially, however, more than 90% of coastal areas will experience greater rises, and the Atlantic coast of North America double that.