More storms, less sand: The study, focusing on the picturesque tourist towns of Wooli Wooli on the far north coast and Batemans Bay in the south, warned that the frequency of storms could increase by between 42 and 50 per cent and sea level rises could be up to 12 centimetres above the global average suggested by the last IPCC report. Experts believed that for every metre of sea level rise there would be about 50 to 100 metres of erosion.
Melting of the polar ice caps not counted: Estimates of sea level rise in the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) did not include the full impact of the melting of the polar ice caps because too little is known about the long term risks. "It was the ice sheet experts who were most upset," said Professor Rahmstorf, who advises the German Government on climate change. "They felt that those risks were not properly represented."
Danger to NSW coastal communities: Professor Rahmstorf’s visit to Australia coincided with a new study by scientists from CSIRO and the NSW Government warning that the state’s coastal communities were likely to be at much higher risk from sea level rise and storm damage than previously thought.
The Age, 6/8/2007, p. 5