Sea level rise to threaten 1 in 10 humans in low-lying coastal areas by 2100

September 24th, 2009 Planned emission cuts still means far hotter EarthWASHINGTON — A United Nations update says Earth's temperature is likely to jump nearly 6 more degrees by 2100 even if every country cuts greenhouse gas emissions as planned. Scientists looked at emission plans from 192 nations and calculated what would happen to global warming.

September 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has indicated that most of the world's low-lying river deltas are sinking from human activity, making them increasingly vulnerable to flooding from rivers and ocean storms and putting tens of millions of people at risk. Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder, US, led the study.

September 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has found that large-scale farming projects by humans can erode the Earth's surface at rates comparable to those of the world's largest rivers and glaciers. The research offers stark evidence of how humans are reshaping the planet.

July 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - New predictions indicate that the amount of sea level rise by the end of this century will be between 7- 82 cm - depending on the amount of warming that occurs. Placing limits on the amount of sea level rise over the next century is one of the most pressing challenges for climate scientists.

June 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has predicted that the Mississippi River Delta in the US would drown by the year 2100. "There's just not enough sediment to sustain the delta plain," study author Michael Blum of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, told National Geographic News.

June 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An international team of scientists has warned that accelerating losses of seagrasses across the globe threaten the immediate health and long-term sustainability of coastal ecosystems, with 58 percent of world's seagrass meadows currently declining. The assessment, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows an acceleration of annual seagrass loss from less than 1 percent per year before 1940 to 7 percent per year since 1990.

June 29th, 2009 Study: Coastal seagrass increasingly being lostWASHINGTON — Coastal development and declining water quality are threatening seagrasses worldwide, researchers report. A study of coastal grasses around the world shows that 58 percent of the seagrass meadows are in decline, according to a report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

June 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has determined that the Greenland ice sheet is melting faster than expected, and is consequently responsible for nearly 25 percent of global sea rise in the past 13 years. The study, carried out by Sebastian H.

June 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research by scientists has determined that the Pacific Ocean, occupying a third of the planet's area, faces threats that will render some coastal areas uninhabitable. According to a report in ENN (Environmental News Network), pollution such as sewage, runoff from land and toxic waste; habitat destruction; over-fishing; and climate change leading to sea level rise, ocean acidification and warming will all interact to damage the ocean's ecology and coastal economies.

May 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has suggested that the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet this century may drive more water than previously thought toward the already threatened coastlines of New York, Boston, Halifax and other cities in the northeastern United States and Canada. The researchers suggest that moderate to high rates of ice melt from Greenland may shift ocean circulation by about 2100, causing sea levels off the northeast coast of North America to rise by about 30 to 51 centimeters (12 to 20 inches) more than other coastal areas.

May 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses due to global warming, it would directly threaten New York, Washington and San Francisco as sea levels near US coasts would rise by 25 percent more than the global average, according to a new study. Antarctica holds about nine times the volume of ice of Greenland.

May 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has suggested that a total or partial collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) as a result of global warming would lead to levels on the US seaboards to rise 25 percent more than the global average and threaten cities like New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. The western ice sheet in Antarctica, known as WAIS, is of particular interest to scientists due to its inherent instability, a result of large areas of the continent's bedrock lying below sea level.

May 14th, 2009 Researchers scale back forecast of sea level riseWASHINGTON — The global sea level will only rise about 10 feet if the West Antarctic ice sheet collapses. While that may not sound so great to residents of coastal cities like New York or Los Angeles, it's only about half the previously predicted rise.

April 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new analysis has determined that the threat of global warming can still be greatly diminished if nations cut emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by 70 percent this century. The analysis was done by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

March 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a paradoxical finding, scientists have discovered that an increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) may ironically counterbalance some of its negative effects on coastal wetlands, which are the planet's most valuable ecosystems. The team conducted their study for two years (2006 - 2007), during which they focused on the role that organic matter, both growing and decaying, plays on soil elevation in wetlands and the effect CO2 has on this process.