When the End of Human Civilization Is Your Day Job

[GliderGuider]

19. What the paper says:

Humanity faces near certainty of eventual sea level rise of at least Eemian proportions, 5–9 m, if fossil fuel emissions continue on a business-as-usual course, e.g., IPCC scenario A1B that has CO2 ~ 700 ppm in 2100 (Fig. S21). It is unlikely that coastal cities or low-lying areas such as Bangladesh, European lowlands, and large portions of the United States eastern coast and northeast China plains (Fig. S22) could be protected against such large sea level rise.

Rapid large sea level rise may begin sooner than generally assumed. Amplifying feedbacks, including slowdown of SMOC and cooling of the near-Antarctic ocean surface with increasing sea ice, may spur nonlinear growth of Antarctic ice sheet mass loss. Deep submarine valleys in West Antarctica and the Wilkes Basin of East Antarctica, each with access to ice amounting to several meters of sea level, provide gateways to the ocean. If the Southern Ocean forcing (subsurface warming) of the Antarctic ice sheets continues to grow, it likely will become impossible to avoid sea level rise of several meters, with the largest uncertainty being how rapidly it will occur.

5-9 meters in 85 years...

Keep in mind that he's using SRES A1B, not A1FI (~RCP8.5) which is a more probable scenario for the next 40 years. I also think the possibility of methane feedbacks must be considered at this point.

So I'm content that 3m by 2055 is indeed possible. It may not happen, because that represents a LOT of added water and heat. However, it's not being dismissed out of hand by Hansen et al, so I won't dismiss it out of hand either. Certainly not just because it makes you feel aggrieved.