{"id":55676,"date":"2020-11-19T08:21:26","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T13:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=55676"},"modified":"2020-11-19T08:21:26","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T13:21:26","slug":"greenlands-largest-glaciers-nearing-rates-of-melt-expected-in-worst-case-scenario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=55676","title":{"rendered":"Greenland\u2019s largest glaciers nearing rates of melt expected in \u2018worst-case scenario\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Greenland\u2019s largest glaciers nearing rates of melt expected in \u2018worst-case scenario\u2019<\/a><\/h3>\n

Greenland\u2019s three biggest glaciers added the equivalent of around 8mm to global sea levels from 1880 to 2012, study says<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Photo of Jakobshavn Isbr\u00e6, one of Greenland\u2019s largest glaciers<\/div>\n
\u00a0(Shfaqat Abbas Khan, DTU Space Denmark)<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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Greenland<\/a>\u2019s largest\u00a0glaciers<\/a>\u00a0are currently melting at levels close to what scientists had previously expected under a future \u201cworst-case scenario\u201d, a study has found.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Using a combination of aerial photographs and field data, the study found that current rates of mass loss from Greenland\u2019s three largest glaciers are higher than once thought.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The melting of these three glaciers added the equivalent of around 8mm to global\u00a0sea levels<\/a> from 1880 to 2012, according to the research.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Previous\u00a0 had estimated that the same three glaciers would contribute 9-15mm to global sea levels by 2100 under a \u201cworst-case scenario\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Greenland ice sheet is a mass of frozen freshwater sitting on the island of Greenland that is around\u00a01.7m square kilometres<\/a>\u00a0in size. This is about three times the size of Texas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As a result of climbing air and ocean temperatures, the ice sheet is losing mass each year. The loss of mass from Greenland\u2019s glaciers is, in turn, causing sea levels to rise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The research, published in\u00a0, focuses on the \u201cbig three\u201d glaciers in Greenland: Jakobshavn Isbr\u00e6, Kangerlussuaq Glacier and Helheim Glacier. These glaciers together hold enough ice to raise sea levels by around 1.3 metres, if they melted completely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It found that the amount of sea level rise from the melting of these three glaciers is already nearing rates previously expected under a future \u201cworst-case\u201d scenario.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This suggests that, if the world were to see extremely high emissions in the coming decades, ice loss from Greenland\u2019s glaciers would be considerably higher than previously projected, explains study author Prof Jonathan Bamber, a glaciologist at the University of Bristol.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greenland\u2019s largest glaciers nearing rates of melt expected in \u2018worst-case scenario\u2019 Greenland\u2019s three biggest glaciers added the equivalent of around 8mm to global sea levels from 1880 to 2012, study says Photo of Jakobshavn Isbr\u00e6, one of Greenland\u2019s largest glaciers \u00a0(Shfaqat Abbas Khan, DTU Space Denmark) Greenland\u2019s largest\u00a0glaciers\u00a0are currently melting at levels close to what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[141,18444,4437,2196,13982],"class_list":["post-55676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-climate-change","tag-daisy-dunne","tag-glacial-melt","tag-greenland","tag-the-independent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55677,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55676\/revisions\/55677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}