Greenland ice sheets are melting and are more vulnerable than experts previously thought. A recent study proved that the ice sheets from Greenland were not as stable as experts predicted.
Greenland Ice Sheets Are Sensitive to Climate Change
The University of Vermont and Utah State University researchers studied sediment from a long-lost ice core drilled from the Greenland ice sheet. They discovered that the ice sheets are more vulnerable to human-caused climate change than they once anticipated, Space.com reported.
For accurate sea-level rise predictions due to global warming, it is essential to understand Greenland's geological past. According to the authors, its ice could raise the sea level by 23 feet (7 meters), endangering every coastal region on Earth.
The ice sheet covering Greenland is nearly 3.2 kilometers thick and covers an area three times the size of Texas. And in the distant past, it has already contracted. The ice sheet melted between 374,000 and 424,000 years ago due to moderate warming, which resulted in a dramatic five-foot rise in sea level, according to the study.
Research co-leader and University of Vermont professor Paul Bierman said the findings represent the first concrete proof that a significant portion of the Greenland ice sheet disappeared when the climate warmed. Bierman and the team came up with a startling picture that shows that vast amounts of Greenland melted much more recently than a million years ago using cutting-edge luminescence technology and the analysis of rare types of chemical elements with distinct atomic compositions known as isotopes.
Research co-author and Utah State University scientist Tammy Rittenour stated in the same statement that they had always assumed that the Greenland ice sheet originated around two and a half million years ago. They thought it was just there and was stable.
She added that it may have gotten a little bigger or its edges may have melted, but it doesn't disappear or suddenly melt back. However, a recent study showed that it did, and the previous assumptions were wrong.
The period, known as Marine Isotope Stage 11, ranged between 424,000 and 374,000 years ago. There was a protracted interglacial period during which the temperature was comparable to or somewhat higher than it is now.
According to this finding, Greenland's ice is significantly more vulnerable to warming than was previously thought. It also implies the possibility of ice melting irreversibly.
Unless we can drastically reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the past of Greenland, stored in twelve feet of frozen soil, points to a warm, wet, and largely ice-free future for planet Earth, Bierman said.
The study was published in the journal Science.
Climate Change and Melting of Ice
According to the Center for Science Education, the melting of ice results in more warming. Each summer, more snow, and ice melt due to global warming, exposing the land and ocean previously covered by the frost.
The ocean and land absorb more solar energy because of their darker colors, dissipating heat into the atmosphere. The result is increased global warming. In this way, as the climate warms more, more ice melts. The process is called ice-albedo feedback, an example of a positive feedback loop, per the CIRES Education and Outreach at CU Boulder.
Additionally, as much as 40,000 years of soil freezing in the arctic areas are being thawed by global warming. As the soils thaw, carbon that has been held there is released as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. The atmosphere becomes warmer due to these gases being released, which further thaws the frozen soil.
In a previous report from Science Times, there are concerns about leakage of ancient pathogens being trapped in permafrost as the latter starts melting. Experts claimed that the time-traveling diseases may start a new pandemic.
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