Human Interest 'Flooded New York City'? New Study Rings Alarm on Climate Change and Melting Antarctic Ice "If we give up the Paris agreement, we give up Hamburg, Tokyo and New York," researchers warn in a new study By Rachel DeSantis Rachel DeSantis Rachel DeSantis is a staff writer on the music team at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2019, and her work has previously appeared in Entertainment Weekly and the New York Daily News. People Editorial Guidelines Published on September 24, 2020 12:27PM EDT Photo: Getty The Antarctic Ice Sheet is losing ice at such a rapid rate, the loss may be irreversible, even if temperatures return to colder levels, according to a new study. The Paris climate agreement aims to keep global warming below 2 degrees — but even if those conditions are met, melting ice flow from Antarctica into the ocean will still make the sea level rise 2.5 meters globally, said the study, which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature. “The more we learn about Antarctic, the direr the predictions become,” study co-author Anders Levermann, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told the Guardian. “We get enormous sea level rise even if we keep to the Paris agreement, and catastrophic amounts if we don’t.” The consequences could even be severe enough to wipe out the globe’s most famous destinations. “We will be renowned in future as the people who flooded New York City,” Levermann said, adding in a separate statement: “If we give up the Paris agreement, we give up Hamburg, Tokyo and New York.” RELATED VIDEO: Prince William Speaks Passionately About Climate Change in Pakistan, "The Action Needs to Happen Very Soon" The ice sheet comprises an ice mass that’s equal to 58 meters of global sea-level rise, and over the past few decades, it’s been losing mass at an accelerating rate, a trend expected to increase as global warming progresses. According to the study, even if temperature levels are reversed to what they are now, the current configuration of Antarctica’s ice sheets will not be regained. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet in particular won’t be able to grow back to the extent it is now until temperatures are even colder (by at least 1 degree C) than they were before industrial times. Easy Things You Should Do to Help the Planet, from Filling Your Fridge to Raking Your Leaves The study said that based on various models, West Antarctica will likely experience a long-term partial collapse because of the instability of the marine ice sheets at global warming levels of 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. At warming levels between 6 and 9 degrees above, the loss of more than 70 percent of the present-day ice volume will be triggered. By the time the warming reached 10 degrees higher, Antarctica will lose virtually all of its ice. "As the surrounding ocean water and atmosphere warm due to human greenhouse-gas emissions, the white cap on the South Pole loses mass and eventually becomes unstable,” researcher and study co-author Ricarda Winkelmann said in a statement. “Because of its sheer magnitude, Antarctica's potential for sea-level contribution is enormous.” There Is 'No Doubt' Humans Are Causing Climate Change, Scientists Say in New Report President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris agreement in June 2017, and the country began the formal, one-year withdrawal process in November 2019. A statement at the time from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited “the unfair economic burden imposed on American workers, businesses and taxpayers by U.S. pledges made under the Agreement” as reason for leaving. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, however, has said that if elected, he will recommit the U.S. to the Paris agreement, which was agreed to in 2015 under President Barack Obama and includes signatures from nearly 200 nations.