"It's bad news. It's a game changer," said Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, who wasn't part of either study. "We thought we had a while to wait and see. We've started down a process that we always said was the biggest worry and biggest risk from West Antarctica."

The Rignot study sees eventually 4 feet (1.2 meters) of sea level rise from the melt. But it could trigger neighboring ice sheet loss that could mean a total of 10 to 12 feet of sea level rise, the study in Science said, and Rignot agreed.

The HuffPost has a very similar article. The NYT provides a little more detail.

In essence the potential meaning of this new data appears to me to be downplayed - it isn't clear from these reports whether the scientific evidence supports as much as 4 feet of increased sea level by 2100, or perhaps 8 feet in that time period. The high end these articles all reference is 12 feet, extended out centuries.

Which is nonsense. For the last several years it has been clear that the pace of Global Warming is occurring faster than expected. And most lately the signal from nature confirming our habit of underestimation has become louder and more frequent.

The geological record does not clearly indicate how quickly the seas may rise. The NYT reports:

Research published in 2012 found that a rise of less than four feet would inundate land on which some 3.7 million Americans live today. Miami, New Orleans, New York and Boston are all highly vulnerable.

Miami is already feeling the heat By 2050, it is certain all four cities will experience the pressure - if not confront an actual mass exodus.

The Repelican Party of Liars Must Pay

.

---

---

The next time you find a Global Warming denialist, you might refer them to this 90 second video:

• Time history of atmospheric carbon dioxide, by CIRES & NOAA

I originally found it at the WashP but that article makes two serious errors: 1. it tends to place the blame on the rest of the world, noting we seem to have cut our emissions; and 2. it suggests that we may yet somehow remain below 2 C increase in global temp by mid century.

1. The U.S. fossil fuel industry is doing all in their power, and quite successfully, to stifle innovation and slow the transition from fossil fuels, and it must be acknowledged that this will have a global impact on any carbon budget goals. If we could get the Kochtopus out of the way we might bring innovative new technology to the global market much sooner.

2. National Geographic - Scientists: Global Warming Likely to Surpass 2°C Target

.

• CLIMATE EMERGENCY INSTITUTE - 2 Degrees Celsius

Though 2C is the only international climate change limit agreed on, the latest research shows it is certain catastrophe for humanity. Indeed the 2007 AR4 IPCC assessment clearly showed 2C catastrophic for billions of people and ecosystems and species.

For many years it has been fairly obvious from the climate change assessments that 1C is the safety limit for global warming and ​2C amounts to ​the worst ever crime against humanity. Even the origin of 2C shows it to be far beyond a planetary safety limit for our future climate.

It is not generally appreciated that 2C refers to the equilibrium warming, which is up to double the realized/transient ​warming at the time of atmospheric GHG stabilization. To be sure of the global temperature stabilizing at 2C, warming has to be limited to 1C by 2100, so our 2100 limit is 1C how ever we look at it. 2C by 2100 is certain total catastrophe because at it will become 4C over the very long term . . .

more

.

---

---

Excerpt from the National Geographic article - Scientists: Global Warming Likely to Surpass 2°C Target

. . . retired NASA climate scientist James Hansen and a group of colleagues wrote in December the 2°C target was not stringent enough, and "so dangerous" as to be "foolhardy." At that level, the world risked initiating feedbacks in the climate system, such as the melting of ice sheet area, that could trigger irreversible warming out of humanity's control.

And so here we are, with an average global temp about .85C or 1.53F above the1880 average, and we are now witnessing exactly that which was expressed by Hansen - the potential of run away climate change.

This is only the beginning.