Warning for modern world ahead of climate conference

A turquoise lake (centre) forms from melting snow near Cape Folger on the Budd Coast in the Australian Antarctic Territory. Photo / AAP

Melting ice poses one of the greatest threats to the modern world, a top Australian climate change professor has warned.

UNSW Sydney professor Matthew England is a keynote speaker at an international conference in Sydney this week that is addressing climate change and in particular looking for solutions to problems in the Southern Hemisphere.

England says up to 15m of Antarctica ice could melt into the oceans if the Earth gets hot enough over the next several centuries.

"And that's enough to make many of the world's coasts unviable if we do nothing to limit atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations," he said. "Tens of millions of people could be displaced."

It comes after research last year showed about eight islands in the Pacific Ocean have disappeared due to rising sea-levels, with many others being drastically reduced in size as their shorelines are swallowed by creeping oceans.

Past meetings of scientists at the national forum have led to global policies to ban the use of ozone-depleting chemicals, managing commercial activity to protect Southern Ocean ecosystems and have informed international discussions on climate change.

The other five keynote speakers have expertise in subjects ranging from space studies, atmospheric research, coral reef studies, climate science and weather extremes.

The 25th AMOS-ICSHMO 2018 will be the largest meeting of meteorologists, oceanographers and climate scientists in the Southern Hemisphere, involving 35 countries.

The conference runs until Friday at the University of NSW.

- AAP