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Yet the creature had survived other instances of warming between glacial periods—even some as warm as today—Fordham says.

In the case of the last glacial period 100,000 years ago, ice cores from Greenland in particular provide researchers with detailed data.

The current glacial period has lasted for almost 2.6 million years, but we are currently in an interglacial period, now being exacerbated and likely prolonged by human greenhouse gas emissions.

It’s that high because past research was based on wrong calculations of how fast the world warmed between glacial periods, Hansen said.

"This is what we think happened during the last glacial period. But we don't know how strongly -- or how fast -- these currents will respond to ocean warming."