Melting Greenland glaciers and Arctic ice cap are predicted to cause higher sea level rise.
A pair of German researchers says the U.N. prediction that sea level will rise only 7 to 23 inches this century is out of date, and the level of the ocean around the world is likely to rise a full three feet instead.
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, who heads the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and Jochem Marotzke, a leading meteorologist, say the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that gave the earlier prediction was based on data up to only 2005.
They believe that the record loss of Arctic ice over the past two summers, and the accelerated melt of the Greenland ice sheet, mean that sea level rise over coming decades is likely to be much higher that those earlier predictions.