<
https://www.sciencealert.com/alarm-bells-sounded-for-greenlands-ice-sheet-after-the-collapse-of-3-ice-shelves>
'The last remaining Northern Greenland ice shelves bracing the region's vast
ice sheet have lost a third of their volume in the last four decades,
researchers said on Tuesday, warning of the risk of "dramatic" sea level rise.
The floating shelves play a crucial role in regulating the flow of ice into the
ocean from glaciers hosting enough ice to ultimately raise sea levels by 2.1
metres (seven feet).
These ice shelves have lost more than 35 percent of their total volume since
1978, with three of them collapsing completely, the study found.
With continued global warming driven by fossil fuel pollution expected to
further heat ocean waters, the ice shelves are "extremely vulnerable" to
further retreat and even collapse, according to the study published in
Nature
Communications.
"This could have dramatic consequences in terms of SLR (sea level rise)," the
authors said.
They added that this is the area of Greenland with the greatest potential to
raise ocean levels, possibly over centuries.
The melting of the ice shelves themselves does not contribute to sea level rise
but they exist as "dams" regulating the discharge of ice into the ocean from
the ice sheet.
If these natural barriers disintegrate, it may cause the glaciers to dump more
ice into the oceans, the study found.'
Via Rixty Dixet, who wrote "A pretty bleak outlook."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
