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THE melting Greenland icecap may have caused the rise in sea level during the
last interglacial period 125 000 years ago, say researchers in the US. Sea
levels were then about five metres higher than today’s, but where the extra
water came from isn’t clear. The West Antarctic ice sheet was the main suspect,
because it is partly below sea level and prone to melt rapidly. But an analysis
of oxygen isotopes by Kurt Cuffey of the University of California at Berkeley
and Shawn Marshall at the University of Calgary shows Greenland was up to 8 °C
warmer, melting more than half the icecap and raising sea levels by up to 5.5
metres (Nature, vol 404, p 591).