Greenland glacier sliding rapidly into ocean, raising sea levels: scientists


Quote:

A glacier in north-east Greenland with enough ice to raise world ocean levels by half a metre has begun to slide more quickly towards the sea, extending ice losses to all corners of the vast remote island, a US study shows. Because of warmer water temperatures, the end of the Zachariae Isstrom glacier floated free from a ridge of bedrock below sea level on which it had rested until 2012, the study, which was reported in the journal Science on Thursday, said.

The fear is the same thing is about to happen to Antarctic glaciers. We already know Antarctic glaciers are slimming at an accelerating rate.

Jovial Monk wrote on Nov 14^th, 2015 at 9:48am:

Quote      Posted on: Today at 9:48am Greenland glacier sliding rapidly into ocean, raising sea levels: scientists

Yes, although this appears in the current Nature, it is actually a report of an expedition last year.

'Greenland's ice sheet appears to be growing faster this winter than in recent years, according to new data from the Danish Meteorological Institute.

This increased rate of ice accumulation follows a virtual standstill in the loss of mass from the huge ice sheet last year that was reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US.

Ice is currently accumulating at a faster rate than the average over the period from 1990 to 2011 and since the end of November it has been growing at its fastest rate in at least four years, according to the DMI data (see bottom panel of third graphic on the right). Ice accumulation is occurring over an area of the ice sheet that is significantly larger than the average area of accumulation for the period from 1990 to 2011, with particularly high accumulation rates in the south east.

Last month NOAA reported satellite data showing that the rate of ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet slowed significantly in 2014. NOAA's annual Arctic Report Card document published in December states that there was a “negligible” loss of ice mass amounting to just 6 billion tonnes from the Greenland Ice Sheet between June 2013 and June 2014.'

http://www.reportingclimatescience.com/news-stories/article/greenlands-ice-sheet-winter-growth-above-average.html

Conflicting messages. Who to believe? Why not the  Danish Meteorological Institute? Net ice increase or decrease?


Jovial Monk wrote on Nov 14^th, 2015 at 9:48am:

We already know Antarctic glaciers are slimming at an accelerating rate.

We already know, according to AGU, that Antarctic ice mass is increasing. despite postulated shrinkage of the glaciers.