Researchers from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland have observed changes in the amount of ice sheets in and around Greenland and have confirmed that meltwater runoff is a major factor. Using a “well-established theory”, scientists believe that about 3.3% of the Greenland ice sheet (equivalent to 110 trillion tons of ice) is inevitably I was able to determine that it was soluble in
According to lead author Jason Box, a scientist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, this melting ice-induced sea-level rise will occur “regardless of any foreseeable future climate pathways in this century.” “This water is technically already under the bridge.”
The authors do not specify a timeline, but predict that sea level change could occur between now and the end of this century.
The study aims only to estimate a minimum, or “very conservative lower bound,” for melt-induced sea-level rise in Greenland, stating that “in the virtually certain event that the climate continues to warm, sea levels ‘s commitment will only increase,” Box said. .
Large ice sheets melt rapidly in hot weather, but warm ocean waters are also eroding the ice sheets around their edges.
Greenland has enough ice that if it all melted, it could raise sea levels by about 25 feet worldwide. Researchers point out that even with a 20-foot rise in sea level, it won’t rise evenly around the world, and some places will be devastated as sea levels fall.
For example, when ice is lost in places such as Greenland, the attraction of ice to water is also lost. This means that sea levels in Greenland are falling as they rise elsewhere, says William He Colgan, a senior researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. The speed of that change is a problem, Colgan told CNN’s Bill Weir during his summer 2021 research trip.
“It would be really difficult to adapt to such rapid changes,” said Colgan, standing on Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier, where the fjord is full of ice that has separated from the glacier.
Prior to the onset of human-induced climate change, temperatures near 32 degrees Fahrenheit were unheard of in Greenland. However, since the 1980s, temperatures in the region have increased by about 1.5 degrees Celsius per decade, four times his global pace, and temperatures are likely to exceed the melting limit. It is rising.
According to data from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, the amount of ice that melted in Greenland alone between July 15 and 17 contained 6 billion tons of water per day, and 7.2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools. is enough to fill the .
CNN’s Rene Marsh and Angela Fritz contributed to this report.
Source: www.cnn.com
