A team of international scientists has unveiled a new report warning that rapidly increasing climate change could raise global sea levels up to five feet, three inches by 2100. The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme says temperatures in the Arctic are the warmest ever recorded, putting the region’s ice caps and glaciers, as well as the Greenland Ice Sheet, at risk of melting. Study co-author Dorthe Dahl-Jensen of the University of Copenhagen warned the rising sea levels could threaten coastal areas worldwide.

Dorthe Dahl-Jensen: “There is also a risk of very fast sea level changes. We have seen that in the past, and it can happen in the future. And this will really significantly change the risk of flooding in the big towns that are threatened, like Shanghai and New York, and also areas like Miami, Amsterdam and Copenhagen are areas that have to prepare for much bigger risks of flooding in the future. And here we’re talking about frames of 10 years where things can change dramatically and the risk can certainly increase a lot.”