James Hansen urges scientists to speak out on sea-level rise
In an article published in Environmental Research Letters on May 24, 2007, James Hansen, NASA scientist, discusses the non-linearity of shelf ice melting and the reticence of scientists to announce their fears about this process. The whole article is worth a read. Below is just the section on sea-level rise risks:
“A field glaciologist, referring to a moulin on Greenland, said: `the whole damned ice sheet is going to go down that hole!’ He was talking about his expectations, under the assumption of continued unchecked growth of global greenhouse gas emissions. Field glaciologists have been doing a good job of reporting current trends on the ice sheets. It is the translation of field data into conclusions needed by the public and policymakers that is at issue.