- Earth lost 8 trillion tonnes of ice in the last 23 years
- Out of which Greenland is responsible for 3.8 trillion tonnes, a point of no return
- Greenland has enough ice to increase sea levels by 20 feet
Greenland's ice sheet, the world’s second-largest ice body surprisingly broke its 2012 record in just 7 years for the highest ice loss in a year in 2019 by 15%. Greenland lost around 3.8 trillion tonnes of ice within 23 years. A startling sign of an accelerative rise in sea levels. Studies show Greenland is responsible for more than 20% of sea-level rise since 2005. That includes ice-land breaking and floating or directly melted into seawater. Greenland’s ice sheet holds enough ice-water to raise sea levels by at least 20 feet (6 meters).
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Rising temperatures are responsible for 40% of the oceans’ rise since 1993, making the high risks of floods. Scientists from Leeds, Edinburgh, and London say, 28 trillion tonnes of ice have disappeared from the surface of the Earth since 1994. The melting glaciers could cause sea-level to rise dramatically, reaching a meter (3 feet) by the end of the century. Earth lost 8 trillion tonnes of ice in just 23 years.
Every centimeter of sea-level rise means, about a million people will be displaced from their homelands. The dramatic loss of ice could have other harsh consequences including major disruption to the biological health of Arctic and Antarctic waters, and as sea-ice plays a major role in reflecting half of the solar radiation back into space, it would reduce the planet’s ability to do so.
Researchers from Ohio State University said that Greenland’s ice sheet might have passed a point of no return. Snowfall that replenishes the glaciers can no longer keep up with the pace of ice melting, which means that the Greenland ice sheet will continue to lose ice even if global temperatures stop rising.
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The average rate of ice thickness changes in the (left) southern and (right) northern hemispheres. Image: Slater, et al. (2020) |
Antarctica’s ice shelves, formed over thousands of years, serve as dams to prevent much of the continent’s snow and ice from flowing toward the ocean. But now, these ice shelves are being penetrated by meltwater, which could undermine the walls of ice holding back Antarctica’s glaciers. It is just like a wall holding everything behind it.
This melting water is heavier than ice, so it can penetrate through the entire ice, fracturing it, just like a knife. Those ice shelves surround about 75% of Antarctica’s coastline. This process is called as hydrofracture.
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| Hydrofracturing |
On the other pole, last year, the Arctic has seen high temperatures, extreme wildfire, and a significant loss of sea ice, according to the European Space Agency. In the Arctic sea, between Canada, Russia, and Europe, the temperatures are warming faster than all climate models predicted. This condition demonstrates that we have been miscalculating the rate of temperature rising which has ultimately caused sea-ice to disappear faster than expected. Successfully implementing the necessary steps can help reducing carbon emissions to meet the Paris Agreement.
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| Image: European Space Agency |
Scientists estimate that by the summer of 2035, Arctic sea ice could disappear for the first time since primitive humans left Africa.
In conclusion, scientists still suggest that governments should prepare for higher sea levels, there is still time to stop the climate-warming emissions to slow the rising sea levels.
Source: Bloomberg Green, World Economic Forum, Futurity, Reuters, European Space Agency
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