If the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement are not met, the Antarctic ice sheet will melt, resulting in global sea levels rising to the point where humanity will have to "give up ... New York," according to a new study.
The research, published in Nature, notes that if temperatures rise 2 degrees Celsius, ocean levels will rise 2.5 meters (8 feet), the temperature limit set by the Paris agreement. Should temperatures rise 4 or 6 degrees Celsius, sea levels would eventually rise 6.5 meters (21 feet) and nearly 12 meters (39 feet), respectively.
"Antarctica holds more than half of Earth's fresh water, frozen in a vast ice-sheet which is nearly 5 kilometers thick," study co-author Ricarda Winkelmann said in a statement. "As the surrounding ocean water and atmosphere warm due to human greenhouse-gas emissions, the white cap on the South Pole loses mass and eventually becomes unstable."
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