“My role . . . focused on sea level rise, as well as changes in the ocean and frozen parts of the earth. And sea level rise is one of the most important, slow-moving processes, or slow-moving impacts of climate change. And so, as we get toward the end of this century, if we have low emissions, we expect to see something like one to two feet of sea level rise and something higher like two to three feet under high emissions. But in fact, if certain changes in Antarctica occur, we could see as much as six feet—or it’s really as much as six feet can’t be ruled out as a possibility.”

Baylor Fox-Kemper, Ph.D.
Professor of earth, environmental, and planetary Sciences, Brown University

“I used to say, when I was talking about climate change, that climate change is serious, certain, and soon. But this is no longer accurate. Now it is very serious, very certain, and now.”

Linda O. Mearns, Ph.D.
Senior scientist, Research Applications Lab, National Center for Atmospheric Research

“The new IPCC report projects that sea level is likely to rise by a little less than a foot by 2050, so that’s only thirty years away, regardless of the emissions scenario around how much we emit. And that’s because we already have a lot of ice melting that’s coming in the pipeline, contributing to sea level. Now in terms of the end of the century, it could be anywhere from about a foot and a half to three feet of sea level rise depending on how much we emit. So this is obviously important for all of our cities that are sitting very close to the coast line such as on the Eastern Seaboard, Florida, Gulf Coast.”

Jessica Tierney, Ph.D.
Associate professor of geosciences, University of Arizona