Greenland likely to lose ice cover at higher pace than previously thought

A group of researchers has conducted a new study that provides the first ever comprehensive picture of melting of glaciers in Greenland over the past decade.

The study was conducted by the researchers at the University at Buffalo. According to them, the current ice sheet modeling studies offer a simple method to accurately measure and predict the contribution of the Greenland Ice Sheet to the rise of sea level. The study says Greenland is expected to lose its ice at a more rapid rate in the near future than earlier believed.

The Greenland Ice Sheet, which covers an area roughly five times the size of Kansas and New York State combined, is the second-largest ice body on the Earth.

Scientists say if the Greenland glaciers start melting and reach a level when it is completely over, then the level of oceans could rise by as much as 20 feet. This would cause extensive damages to the coastal communities spread across Florida to Bangladesh.

Study investigator Cornelis J. van der Veen said that this information is important for the development and validation of numerical models that foresee how the ice sheet may transform and contribute to sea level globally over the next few hundred years.

The researchers made two major findings during the study. Firstly, the study provided new estimates of annual loss of ice at high spatial resolution. Secondly, the current ice sheet models have failed to accurately capture the whole Greenland Ice Sheet region and its changing pattern.

The study’s findings were published on December 15 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.