Melting ice in Greenland could result in a 10-inch rise in sea water around the world, more than twice the increase previously believed, according to a new study.
The problem is what researchers call “zombie ice,” or ice that is no longer getting replenished from glaciers that are receiving less snow because of global warming. It is basically doomed ice that eventually will melt and raise sea levels.
A new study just published in Nature Climate Change looked at Greenland’s melting ice sheet and said the sea levels would raise by at least ten inches even if we stopped burning fossil fuels (which cause global warming) immediately.
Jason Box, a glaciologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland and the main author of the new study, said the growth of zombie ice is “more like one foot in the grave.”
The study looked at the “committed” sea-level rise, meaning it took into account warming that has already occurred. That is a different approach than earlier computer modeling that predicted lower losses of ice in Greenland. It is more grounded on what has actually happened in the past than the earlier computer modeling.
The new research examined satellite measurements from 2000 to 2019. It looked at a climactic snow line, the boundary between a surface covered by snow and one without any snow, on the ice sheet. That line changes every year, depending on warmer temperatures.
The new study says that even the most conservative estimates of melting ice sheets in Greenland could have dramatic effects around the world. A 10-inch average, it notes, does not equate to an equal sea-level rise everywhere. Lower-lying coast areas, for example, could be hit by devasting floods. Read more:
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-greenland-major-sea.html
