Oceans could rise 1.6 metres by 2100: study

A consortium of scientists reported Tuesday that warming in the Arctic occurring at twice the global average is on track to lift sea levels by up to 1.6 metres by 2100, a far steeper jump than predicted a few years ago.According to the Oslo-based Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Project (AMAP), melting ice and snow has accounted for 40 percent of recent increases in ocean levels and are likely to play an even larger role in future,Scientists warned that even the low end of this range would have devastating consequences for coastal cities and densely-populated, low-lying deltas in Bangladesh, Vietnam, China and many other countries,In early 2007, the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the worlds oceans would creep up 0.2 to 0.5 metres by centurys end.The new study shows that the past six years have been the warmest period ever recorded for the Arctic, and that summer temperatures were higher in the past few decades than at any time in the last 2,000 years.The report forecasts that the Arctic Ocean, within three or four decades, will likely become nearly ice free during the summer months.