If the ice caps melt, low-lying coasts will disappear beneath the waves first, right? Not necessarily. The sea level “wave” takes time to travel around the globe, so Pacific islands could get a temporary reprieve, while Atlantic coasts bear the brunt.
Many climate models predict that melting in Greenland could cause a global sea level rise of more than a metre in the next century. This would engulf Pacific islands such as Kiribati and Tuvalu.
Yet Detlef Stammer of the University of Hamburg, Germany, says the majority of Greenland’s meltwater will stay in the Atlantic Ocean for at least 50…
