The planet has less than 40 years to solve the climate crisis or massive ice sheets will melt - sparking a Doomsday scenario for Britain’s coastal towns, experts have warned.
A new report says if all nations on Earth do not achieve net zero emissions by 2060 the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets will melt in the coming years.
The resulting destruction will mean the world’s seas will rise by nearly five feet, dooming towns and villages across the UK to a watery grave.
The research was carried out by South Korean scientists using supercomputer simulations.
Professor Axel Timmermann, co-author of the study and Director of the IBS Center for Climate Physics, said of the danger: “If we miss this emission goal, the ice sheets will disintegrate and melt at an accelerated pace, according to our calculations.
“If we don’t take any action, retreating ice sheets would continue to increase sea level by at least 100 cm within the next 130 years.
“This would be on top of other contributions, such as the thermal expansion of ocean water.
“One of the key challenges in simulating ice sheets is that even small-scale processes can play a crucial role in the large-scale response of an ice sheet and for the corresponding sea-level projections.
"Not only do we have to include the coupling of all components, as we did in our current study, but we also need to simulate the dynamics at the highest possible spatial resolution using some of the fastest supercomputers.”
According to a flood map, the resulting devastation would leave swatches of Kent, Dorset, Cambridgeshire and Humberside underwater.
The Thames would also rise, dooming homes along the Estuary as the flood defences are breached.
Other towns and cities inland would also be at danger as rivers would burst their banks, causing floodwater to enter people's homes.
The damage would be just as catastrophic elsewhere on the planet.
Historic Dunkerque in France would be lost, as would practically all of the Netherlands including capital Amsterdam.
In the US, most of New York City would be lost underwater, as well as the likes of New Orleans, Sacramento,
Elsewhere, Wellington in New Zealand faces a wet future and the Philippines would be lost forever. Japan’s island mass would also be hugely affected.
Jun Young Park, PhD student at the IBS Center for Climate Physics and Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea, added: “Computer models that simulate the dynamics of the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica often do not account for the fact that ice sheet melting will affect ocean processes, which, in turn, can feed back onto the ice sheet and the atmosphere.”
Areas affected in the UK by 2060 flooding
Norfolk
Burnham Norton
Wells-next-the-Sea
Great Yarmouth
Norwich
Suffolk
Ipswich
Lowestoft
Southwold
Blythburgh
Dunwich
Westleton
Thorpeness
Orford
Hollesley
Felixstowe
Dovercourt
Essex
Walton-on-the Naze
Clacton-on-Sea
Brightlingsea
Mersea Island
Wallasea Island
Canvey Island
Thurrock
London
Greenwich
Stratford
Barking
Rainham
Thamesmead
Covent Garden
Kew
Kent
Rochester
Sheerness
Isle of Sheppey
Faversham
Whitstable
Sandwich
Deal
Romney Marsh
Lydd
East Sussex
Winchelsea
Rye
Eastbourne
Seaford
Newhaven
Lewes
West Sussex
Shoreham
Worthing
Littlehampton
Arundel
Bognor Regis
Selsey
Hampshire
Portsmouth
Gosport
Fareham
Southampton
Lymington
Dorset
Poole
Wareham
Weymouth
Devon
Exmouth
Torquay
Plymouth
Cornwall
Looe
Falmouth
Porthleven
Marazion
Penzance
Bideford
Barnstaple
Somerset
Burnham-on-Sea
Merseyside
Liverpool
Formby
Cheshire
Runcorn
Lancashire
Southport
Fleetwood
Cumbria
Barrow-in-Furness
Northumberland
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Amble
Blyth
North Yorkshire
Middlesbrough
Whitby
Yorkshire
Hull
Lincolnshire
Scunthorpe
Grimsby
Mablethorpe
Skegness
Coningsby
Boston
Spalding
Cambridgeshire
Peterborough
Ely
Scotland
Kirkcudbright
Stranraer
Girvan
Ayr
Irvine
Dumbarton
Dornoch
Inverness
Aberdeen
Montrose
Arbroath
Grangemouth
Wales
Barry
Swansea
Llanelli
Cardigan
Borth
Tywyn
Pwllheli
Caernarfon
Anglesey
Bangor
Northern Ireland
Belfast
Bangor
Newtownards
Greyabbey
Downpatrick
Larne
Derry
Donegal
