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The PAGES PALeo constraints on SEA level rise 2 (PALSEA2) working group organized their third workshop in July 22-24, 2015 (Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo). This workshop aimed at integrating data and models to better understand and constrain past changes in sea level, the cryosphere and climate during past warm periods when ice extent was similar to or less than that at present (e.g. Mid-Holocene, last interglacial, mid-Pliocene) with a key goal being to place improved constraints on the amplitudes and rates of sea level changes during such periods.Outcomes from previous workshops of the PALSEA2 working group have been published recently in Science this summer. The study led by Assistant Professor Andrea Dutton (University of Florida) outlines advances and challenges involved in constraining ice sheet sensitivity to climate change with the use of paleo-sea level records.Sea level information during several warm periods in Earth’s recent history are analysed and discussed. In particular, the interdisciplinary team concluded that:- During the last interglacial, about 125,000 years ago, the global average temperature was similar to the present but slightly higher in the poles, and this was linked to a sea-level rise of 6-9 metres, caused by melting ice in both Greenland and Antarctica.- During Marine Isotopic Stage 11, around 400,000 years ago when global average temperatures were estimated to be between 1 to 2°C higher than preindustrial levels, sea level reached 6-13 metres.Our present climate is warming to a level associated with significant polar ice-sheet loss in the past. Providing good estimates of the magnitudes of global sea-level rise due to polar ice-sheet loss, is critical to improve our understanding of future sea level changes and impacts on socio-economic and natural systems.[caption id="attachment_413" align="alignnone" width="474"] Figure 1. Peak global mean temperature, atmospheric CO2, maximum global mean sea level (GMSL), and source(s) of meltwater. Light blue shading indicates uncertainty of GMSL maximum. Red pie charts over Greenland and Antarctica denote fraction (not location) of ice retreat. Figure from Dutton et al., Science 2015.[/caption]&#160;