Antarctic thaw quickens, trillions of tonnes of ice raise sea levels

FILE PHOTO: A penguin stands on an iceberg in Yankee Harbour, Antarctica, February 18, 2018. Reuters/Alexandre Meneghini/File Photo

OSLO (Reuters) - An accelerating thaw of Antarctica has pushed up world sea levels by almost a centimetre since the early 1990s in a risk for coasts from Pacific islands to Florida, an international team of scientists said on Thursday.

Antarctica has enough ice to raise seas by 58 metres (190 ft) if it ever all melted, dwarfing frozen stores in places from Greenland to the Himalayas and making its future the biggest uncertainty in understanding global warming and ocean levels.