Global warming and climate change have become few of the most important issues of human life today. One of the graver problems that come along climate change is an increase in the sea level, causing major worries.

However, this is not the first time when such an issue has caused global concerns.

According to a research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), an international team of scientists have found that around 129,000 years ago, also known as the Last Interglacial, the mass melting of West Antarctic Ice Sheet led to an increase in the sea levels. The team, which was headed by University of South Wales’s (UNSW) Chris Turney, has reported that the extreme ice loss caused a three meter increase in the sea levels.

"Not only did we lose a lot of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, but this happened very early during the Last Interglacial," says Chris, Professor in Earth and Climate Science at UNSW Sydney.

To study about the melting of ice and its effect, the scientists travelled to the Patriot Hills Blue Ice Area, located at the periphery of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Chris added, “The melting was likely caused by less than 2°C ocean warming - and that's something that has major implications for the future, given the ocean temperature increase and West Antarctic melting that's happening today.”

The findings have concluded that with the growing climate change, the rapid increase might happen again in future, on a large scale.