It is not surprising that the melting of ice at the poles is becoming increasingly severe due to global warming. However, up until now, we have not had the most accurate preliminary estimate of the amount of ice melting in one of the largest reserves of freshwater in the form of ice on Earth, which is Greenland.
The amount of ice melting in Greenland is a staggering figure.
According to a recent study published in the journal Nature Communications, the amount of ice melting in Greenland is indeed enormous.
The research conducted by scientists at the University of Leeds, UK, utilized data from the CryoSat-2 satellite of the European Space Agency to estimate the amount of ice loss over the past decade due to climate change.
Dr. Thomas Slater stated: “As we have seen in other parts of the world, Greenland is also vulnerable to the increase of extreme weather events. As the climate warms, the melting of ice in Greenland will occur more frequently. Observations like these are a crucial step in helping us improve climate models and better predict what will happen in this century.”
The study shows that the amount of ice melting has increased by 21% since 2011, equating to approximately 357 billion tons of ice melting each year in Greenland.
Dr. Slater remains hopeful that ambitious human emission reduction targets could help reduce the amount of ice melting and loss in Greenland by three times, and of course, we still have time to achieve this goal.
Ice in Greenland will contribute approximately 3 – 23cm to global sea level rise by 2100.
Co-author of the study, Dr. Amber Leeson, affirmed: “Model estimates suggest that the ice in Greenland will contribute approximately 3 – 23cm to global sea level rise by 2100. This prediction has a wide range, partly due to the uncertainties associated with simulating the complex ice melting processes, including extreme weather. These new estimates of flow in this space will help us better understand the complex melting processes, improve modeling capabilities, and thus allow us to adjust future sea level rise estimates.”
By combining real-time satellite observations with complex climate models, researchers like Dr. Leeson and Slater hope that scientists can refine predictions to prevent future environmental disasters.
