by Mat Churchill

The world's pre-eminent climate change group, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will "almost inevitably" reevaluate its predictions of Earth's sea level rises by the end of the century, and the news isn't good.

Increases in sea levels well beyond previous expectations are likely to occur, as satellite imagery shows extensive melting of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.

The IPCC's next report, seen by governments and scientific organisations as the world's premier document on climate change,  will be released in 2014. However, the increases in sea level stated in the panel's 2007 report is now known to be understated.

Dr Jean-Pascal Yoersele, the IPCC's vice chairman said ''There are a lot of satellite data that was not available for the fourth assessment report (2007) that will be available for [report] five … which are starting to show, but are quite convincing I must say, that both the Greenland ice sheet and the Antarctic ice sheet are losing net mass, not on the margins, but as an ice sheet [as a whole].''

The 2007 assessment report estimated rises of 18 to 59 centimetres on 1990 levels by the end of century.

If these figures are said to be understated, then what does that mean for low lying areas such as Port Douglas?

Surely the last remaining climate change sceptics will have to get their head out of the Four Mile Beach sand, for it may not be there for much longer.