NEW YORK — Global warming in this century might raise sea levels more than expected in future centuries, says a study that looked at what happened at a time when Neanderthals roamed Europe.
Unless global warming is curbed or expensive measures are taken to hold back rising water, the projected sea level rise of 20 to 30 feet could submerge about one-third of Florida, southern Manhattan, much of Bangladesh and almost all the Netherlands, for example, researchers said.
An expert praised the work but cautioned that such projections can’t be made with precision.
Earth naturally alternates between ice ages and warmer times, due to changes in the tilt of the planet and its orbit around the sun. It is now in a warmer spell that began some 10,000 years ago.
But scientists say that man-made, heat-trapping gases are driving the warming beyond the natural amount.
