Scientist Warns of Three- to Six-Foot Rise in Sea Levels

TELLURIDE – Renowned climatologist Jason Box has spent the last 14 years monitoring the Greenland Ice Sheet, and his work has revealed that current projections of the rise in sea level due to global warming are vastly underestimated.

“The [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] projected sea level rise of around one and a half feet,” Boyd said. “But this did not take into account the profound ice sheet sensitivity now documented [in Greenland]… My best guess is a sea level rise of between three and six feet by the end of this century.”

Box will be taking time out from his research, as well as from a busy schedule of interviews and presentations for CBS, 60 Minutes, the Discovery Channel, and other international news outlets to educate the Telluride regional community on his findings regarding climate change, sea-level rise and the resulting impacts to the world’s populations and economy.

On Thursday, Sept. 4, at 7 p.m. at the Sheridan Opera House, Boyd and the Telluride Institute will present The Greenland Ice Sheet: Beyond the Threshold of Viability.

The event is free and open to the public. His presentation includes never-before-seen footage that graphically illustrates Greenland’s spectacular inland melt lakes, moulins, glaciers, and fjords in a changing climate. Watch an on-location interview with Box at http://bprc.osu.edu/~jbox/video/2007_11_05_0716L_NBC_Greenland_Box_Lauer.mov.