Victoria University, NEW ZEALAND — Tropical waters in the Pacific will experience disproportionately high sea-level rise from climate change-induced polar ice melt, according to new research.

An academic from New Zealand's Victoria University Antarctic Research Centre is part of a global scientific research team modelling how polar ice melt will disrupt Earth's cooling mechanisms.

Nick Golledge said the gravitational field of polar ice caps diminishes as they melt and shrink, which enhances the effect of the earth's rotation to push water to the equator.

He said mixed with glacier melt and other factors means an average sea-level rise of 0.8 of a metre.

"Which would translate to something like 1.2 metres in the Pacific so quite a substantial sea-level rise by 2100."