Fossil corals have been used to examine how temperature changes in the past have promoted melting of polar ice sheets, showing that sea levels may rise higher than expected.
Coral fossils from around the world from the last interglacial period, 125,000 years ago, were logged in a database and modelling found that during the last interglacial period sea levels peaked at 5.5 to 9 metres above present sea level.
For the period studied, the poles were said to be three to five degrees warmer than present; temperatures we are expected to reach this century. This implies that the polar ice sheets may be more sensitive to small increases in temperature than first thought.
Read more at Australian National University