Western-blowing Antarctic winds may accelerate sea ice loss and therefore quicken the rising sea level.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, researchers have suggested with a new study that past models have not accounted for the changing winds that are growing stronger and becoming disruptive. Sea levels are already expected to rise three meters over the next 200 to 250 years.

The researchers published their study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

"It's the first time that I looked at my science and thought, 'Oh my god, that is very concerning,'" study lead author Dr. Paul Spence, an oceanographer at the University of NSW's Climate Change Research Center, told the Herald. "You hope it's wrong and you hope it doesn't happen.

"If you were buying land in Australia and wanting to pass it down to your kids or your grandchildren, I suggest it's a couple of meters above sea-level."

Spence and his team identified a growing hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica as a leading factor for the changing winds. Though the ozone is expected to recover within the coming decades, slowing the winds above Antarctica, greenhouse gas emissions are still exacerbating the problem.

"The dynamic barrier between cold and warm water relaxes, and this relatively warm water just offshore floods into the ice-shelf regions, increasing the temperatures by 4 degrees under the ice shelf," Spence told the Herald. "If you look at how sensitive the coastal ocean is to these changing winds, you could put a lot more heat under these ice shelves than people have previously thought."

Recent studies have suggested ice melting in both West and East Antarctica could contribute 3.3 meters of a rise in the global sea level long-term. Changing winds could also contribute to more sudden rises in the global sea level.

"Our research indicates that as global warming continues, parts of East Antarctica will also be affected by these wind-induced changes in ocean currents and temperatures," study co-author Dr. Nicholas Jourdain, a colleague of Spence's, said in a press release. "Dramatic rises in sea level are almost inevitable if we continue to emit greenhouse gases at the current rate."