Researchers had thought that due to the melting ice caps, sea levels were rising by a steady three millimetres per year.

But new research has found the rate is increasing by 0.08 mm every year, meaning that by 2100, sea levels could be rising by 10 mm per year.

The study was carried out by scientists at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado in Boulder who have been analysing satellite data over the last 25 years.

Steve Narem, the leader of the study, said: "This acceleration, driven mainly by accelerated melting in Greenland and Antarctica, has the potential to double the total sea level rise by 2100 as compared to projections that assume a constant rate – to more than 60 cm instead of about 30.