Rising air and ocean temperatures are melting the Greenland icecap faster than thought as scientists have found each blow intensifies the other.
The study, carried out by Edinburgh and California San Diego universities, looked at the impacts of climate change on the world’s second biggest ice sheet (650,000sq miles) over 40 years.
It found the Greenland ice sheet could be even more vulnerable than people thought while project leader, Dr Donald Slater, said it will impact the island of Ireland.
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The University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences expert added: “Melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet is one of several factor that contributes to global sea level rise, which will affect Scotland and Ireland.
“Climate model projections suggest that in a medium greenhouse gas emissions scenario, all these factors combined could cause sea levels in Edinburgh and Belfast to rise by as much as two feet by the end of the century.
“The effect we investigated is a bit like ice cubes melting in a drink – ice cubes will obviously melt faster in a warm drink than in a cold drink, hence the edges of the Greenland ice sheet melt faster if the ocean is warmer,” he explained.
“But ice cubes in a drink will also melt faster if you stir the drink, and rising air temperatures in Greenland effectively result in a stirring of the ocean close to the ice sheet, causing faster melting of the ice sheet by the ocean.
“This unfortunately adds to the overwhelming body of evidence showing the sensitivity of the Greenland ice sheet to climate change, hence the need for urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
The research team evaluated underwater melting of the ice sheet from 1979 to 2018.
They found that meltwater coming off the ice sheet because of warmer air temperatures, flowed into the ocean causing faster submarine melting of the ice sheet by its surrounding water.
Ocean temperature is the main factor that controls submarine melting in south and central-west Greenland, while atmospheric warming is equally damaging in the island’s northwest, they said.
Findings also suggest if the atmosphere had not warmed since 1979, the retreat of Greenland’s glaciers, driven by submarine melting, could have been reduced by half in the northwest region and a third across Greenland as a whole.
The study, published in the journal Nature GeoScience, was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council and the US National Science Foundation.
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