Low-lying cities like Aventura and Sunny Isles Beach got some limited good news May 15 with a report in the journal Science saying the threatened collapse of the Western Antarctic ice sheet likely would raise ocean levels “only” 10 feet.

 That’s about half the previously predicted rise but still enough to put much of South Florida underwater.

The good news is scientists say that while the ice sheet is unstable, a partial collapse will likely take place over the next 500 years, suggesting the Atlantic Ocean would rise on average a quarter of an inch a year. 

But even that small increase – if true – could spell big trouble for Sunny Isles Beach and Aventura, both of which are listed at 3 feet above sea level. A quarter-inch-per-year rise would cause serious beach issues in the next decade.

The new research was done by a team led by Jonathan L. Bamber of the University of Bristol in England. While previous studies had suggested global warming would cause the ice sheet to collapse completely, the new work suggests a less than complete collapse is more likely. 

A series of maps created by a previous research team from the University of Arizona shows much of South Florida  under water if the ice sheet continues to disintegrate. 

For more, go to http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/324/5929/888.