From The Weather Makers (Tim Flannery, 2005) pp149-50
So swift have been the changes in ice plain science, and so great is the inertia of the oceanic juggernaut, that climate scientists are now debating whether humans have already tripped the switch that will create an ice-free Earth. If so, we have already committed our planet and ourselves to a rise in the level of the sea of around sixty-seven metres. The next great question would be, how long will it take for the ice to melt? Many scientists think that, regardless of the amount of melting in store, the bulk of the sea level rises will occur after 2050, and it will take millennia for all of the ice to melt. Still, some scientists are predicting a rise in sea levels of three to six metres over a century or two.
Predicting the future has never been humanity’s strong suit, but with technological advances made over two decades – including satellite surveillance data of changes at the surface of our planet, better computers, and a firm grasp of Earth systems such as the carbon cycle – scientists have been able to build virtual worlds to see the approximate shape of things to come, and how things might stand if we change our ways. These wondrous new playthings of science have much to tell us about our climatic future over coming decades.
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