McMurdo Station, Antarctica - Global warming could raise sea levels by as much as six metres in the next generation, and the Earth could be heading for a mini ice-age, Antarctic scientists said yesterday. Global warming due to greenhouse gases could soon begin to threaten the massive western Antarctic ice shelf, they warned. If that melted, massive volumes of cold water would enter the world's oceans and disrupt global sea currents, causing temperatures in some areas to plunge.
Mr Tim Naish from New Zealand's Geological and Nuclear Science Institute said the Antarctic ice contained 90 per cent of the Earth's fresh water and if that melted sea levels would rise by 70 metres