 The potential for major sea level rise depends mostly on a significant melting of the polar ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica , as this is where the vast majority of glacial ice is located . If all the ice on the polar ice caps were to melt away , the oceans of the world would rise an estimated 70 m ( 230 ft ) . Although previously it was thought that the polar ice caps were not contributing heavily to sea level rise ( IPCC 2007 ) , recent studies have confirmed that both Antarctica and Greenland are contributing 0 @.@ 5 millimetres ( 0 @.@ 020 in ) a year each to global sea level rise . The fact that the IPCC estimates did not include rapid ice sheet decay into their sea level predictions makes it difficult to ascertain a plausible estimate for sea level rise but recent studies find that the minimum sea level rise will be around 0 @.@ 8 metres ( 2 @.@ 6 ft ) by 2100 . 
