Greenland is losing 30 million tons of ice per hour – study
[ad_1]
The Greenland ice sheet is losing an average of 30 million tons of ice per hour due to the climate crisis. This is 20% more than previously thought.
In a study published in the journal Nature, researchers used artificial intelligence to map more than 235,000 glaciers over a 38-year period at a resolution of 120 meters.
Scientists have concluded that since 1985, the Greenland ice sheet has lost an area of about 5,000 square kilometers of ice, which is equivalent to a trillion tons of ice, writes The Guardian.
Some scientists are concerned that this additional source of fresh water flowing into the North Atlantic could cause the ocean currents to collapse. They are called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc), a system of currents in the Atlantic that carry warm water northward, where it cools and sinks to the bottom. According to the researchers, Amoc is approaching a “launch with dire consequences for humanity”.
| Photo: paradoxes/Depositphotos |
Large ice loss in Greenland as a result of global warming has been recorded for decades. Methods used today, such as measuring the height of the ice sheet or its weight using gravity data, are well-suited to determining the loss of ice that enters the ocean and raises its level, the researchers said.
However, they cannot explain the retreat of glaciers that are below sea level. In the study, scientists analyzed satellite photographs to determine the final position of many of Greenland’s glaciers every month from 1985 to 2022. They discovered a trillion tons of lost ice.
“The changes around Greenland are huge, and they’re happening everywhere – almost every glacier has retreated in the last few decades“, says Dr. Chad Green of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the US, who led the study
A recent study showed that in the worst case scenario, the tipping point could happen as early as 2025. According to scientists, a large part of the Greenland ice sheet is also close to the tipping point of irreversible melting, equivalent to a rise in sea level by 1-2 meters.
There is some concern that any small source of fresh water could trigger a full-scale collapse of the Amoc, disrupting global weather patterns, ecosystems and global food security, scientists said. The influx of less dense fresh water into the sea slows down the normal process of formation of heavier salt water in the polar region.
“It will be similar to the Amoc collapse, but it will unfold more quickly and have a profound impact on the UK, Western Europe, parts of North America and the Sahel region, where the West African Monsoon could be severely disrupted” said Professor Tim Lenton of the University of Exeter, UK, who was not involved in the study.
However, Professor Andrew Shepherd of the University of Northumbria, UK, noted:
“Although there was a change in glacier melt at the turn of the century, it is reassuring that the rate of ice loss has remained stable since then and is still well below the level needed to trigger Amoc“.
Detecting additional ice loss is also important for calculating Earth’s energy imbalance, which is how much extra solar heat Earth is trapping because of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, Green said.
In a study published in 2022, scientists analyzed the size of the Antarctic ice shelf. The total loss of the ice shelf has been found to have doubled since 1997 to about 12 trillion tons.
We will remind you that the United Nations has announced 2023 as the hottest year in human history.
Scientists of the European Climate Agency also recognized November 2023 as the hottest on record.
Scientists have announced that the Earth is warming much faster than previously thought.
On November 17, 2023, the Earth’s temperature briefly exceeded a critical mark that could have catastrophic and irreversible consequences for the planet and its ecosystems.
Scientists have come to the conclusion that the Southern Hemisphere of our planet is slowly drying up. This process is faster than in the Northern Hemisphere.
Read also: The oldest glacier in the world could have appeared almost 3 billion years ago – research
[ad_2]
Original Source Link
