James Hansen/Goddard Paper - Earth On Edge Of Shift Into Runaway Warming - Daily Telegraph

MELTING ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica will cause the sea level to rise much faster than previously anticipated, according to alarming new NASA research.

The alarming prediction was made by a research team led by James Hansen, from NASA's Goddard Institute, and published in a peer-reviewed paper titled Climate Change and Trace Gases.

The document argues the Earth is perilously close to entering a new era of runaway climate change, warning that while conditions are currently classified as "serious", they are likely to tip into "dangerous" over the next decade.

It says while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had forecast a sea level rise of 18cm-59cm, that figure did not take into account melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. "That's beginning to lose mass and is situated on a bedrock below sea level, so it's potentially unstable and could give a very large sea-level rise," Mr Hansen said.

EDIT

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21965216-5001021,00.html

Because that used to mean "Earth becomes like Venus," and it gives me palpitations.

that would wake this world up!