With bigger storms each winter taking ever larger bites out of British beaches and cliffs, the increasing speed of sea level rise is set to make things worse. One of the biggest contributors to the current rise of 3.4mm (0.13in) a year is the Greenland ice cap, which is 3km thick (just under 2 miles) and has the potential to raise sea levels by 7 metres (23ft) if it all melted.
Scientists have been working out at what temperature Greenland’s melting would become irreversible and ensure that large chunks of our islands would disappear beneath the waves.
