Sea level rising much faster than UN projections

A new peer-reviewed study by climate scientists finds the rise in sea level during the past two decades has been 60 percent faster than predictions from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The scientists also found that IPCC’s estimates for warming temperatures was just right. …

“‘Global warming has not slowed down or is lagging behind the projections,’ lead author Stefan Rahmstorf, a researcher at Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said in a statement. ‘The IPCC is far from being alarmist and in fact in some cases rather underestimates possible risks.’ …

“The IPCC earlier estimated that seas rose by about 7 inches over the last century, and its most recent report, published in 2007, estimated a range of between 7 and 23 inches this century — enough to worsen coastal flooding and erosion during storm surges.”