The fourth report estimated a total global sea level rise of 2mm a year from the early 1990s to 2011, while research by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research this week estimated the rise has been as much as 3.2mm a year over the same period.
"We have pinpointed the areas of ice sheets where people should be concerned," Shepherd said. "There are parts of Antarctic where the ice is not behaving in a normal way. It is unstable and its sea level contribution is rising year-on-year, Greenland even more so," he said.
"That allows us to say to people who build models for future climate projections, 'these are the areas you should concentrate on'," he said, adding that continued monitoring of ice sheets is necessary.
The researchers did not make predictions about how much sea levels were likely to rise this century, saying it was not the aim of the project.
The IPCC has said seas could rise by between 18 and 59 cm this century, not counting the possible acceleration of the melt of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets that could add more still water to the oceans. The Potsdam study places that figure even higher at between 50cm and a meter this century.
(Editing by Greg Mahlich)
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