Greenland’s Ice Melting Faster Than Scientists Previously Thought
This suggests surface ice is simply melting as global temperatures rise, causing gushing rivers of meltwater to flow into the ocean and push up sea levels. If all of Greenland’s vast ice sheet, 3km thick in places, was to melt, global sea levels would rise by seven meters, or more than 20ft, drowning most coastal settlements. The fate of Greenland’s huge glaciers in the south-east and north-west has long been viewed as a key factor in global sea level rise but the Ohio State-led research suggests the ice fields of the island’s south-west may prove an unexpectedly large source of meltwater. Arctic ice loss has tripled since the 1980s, with melting in places such as Greenland and Alaska providing the greatest instigator of sea level rise while destabilizing the very ground underneath 4 million people’s feet. The world’s largest expanse of ice is now losing about 219bn tonnes of ice a year, a trajectory that would contribute more than 25cm to total global sea level rise by 2070.
Source: www.theguardian.com