The drumbeat of warnings about the dire effects of rising sea levels accelerated this week, with two reports calling into question whether some parts of the planet will become impossible to live in.
The latest report, published Thursday in the scientific journal Nature, says melting ice in Antarctica has the potential to contribute to a rise in sea levels of 1 meter — more than 3 feet — by the end of this century.
And it says with ice also melting in other parts of the world, seas could rise 5 or 6 feet by the end of this century, far more than predicted in a 2013 United Nations study.
The study, by Robert DeConto of the University of Massachusetts and David Pollard of Pennsylvania State University, says by the year 2500, Antarctica could contribute to a rise in sea levels of 15 meters, or nearly 50 feet.
And by the middle of the next century, seas could be rising at a rate of more than 1 foot per decade if the emission of greenhouse gases continues unchanged, the study says.
The new study comes on the heels of another, done by the National Snow and Ice Data Center, which also concluded that melting ice in the Antarctic poses a serious problem.