Sea rose eight metres in warmer age: study

Two degrees Celsius. According to scientists, that's the rise in global temperature, measured against pre-industrial times, that could spark some of the most catastrophic effects of global warming.

If climate models are correct, then Hurricane Sandy, and the flooding it brought, gave us a gentle preview of the not-so-distant future.

Wednesday marked the official start to spring — a chilly, snowy and, in some parts of Canada, downright miserable start to the season. And it looks like there’s more to come. “As much as people want me to say we’ll have warm weather by the middle of next week, that doesn’t seem to be what the models are indicating,” Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson said Wednesday.

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet, whose melt may be responsible for 10 percent of the sea-level rise caused by climate change, is warming twice as quickly as previously thought, a study said Sunday. A re-analysis of temperature records from 1958 to 2010 revealed an increase of 2.4 degrees Celsius (36.3 degrees Fahrenheit) over the period -- three times the average global rise.

By Dylan Matthews mike777 asks:

Global warming will have a devastating effect on roads in the Arctic but open up tantalising routes for shipping, according to a study published on Sunday in the specialist journal Nature Climate Change."As sea ice continues to melt, accessibility by sea will increase, but the viability of an important network of roads that depend on freezing temperatures is threatened by a warming climate," said Scott Stephenson of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).Previous research has already pinpointed the Arctic as one of the world's most climate-sensitive areas.