Melting water's lubricating effect on glaciers has only 'minor' role in future sea-level rise

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/9666.html

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Melting water's lubricating effect on glaciers has only 'minor' role in future sea-level rise[/font]
Press release issued 12 August 2013

[font size=4 color="red"]Concerns that melting water would speed up the decline of Greenland’s ice sheet have been allayed by new research which shows the lubricating effect of water beneath glaciers will not significantly add to sea-level rise.[/font]

[font size=3]Scientists had feared that melt-water which trickles down through the ice could dramatically speed up the movement of glaciers as it acts as a lubricant between the ice and the ground it moves over.

But in a paper published today in PNAS, a team led by scientists from the University of Bristol found it is likely to have a minor role in sea-level rise compared with other effects like iceberg production and surface melt.

The results of computer modelling, based on fieldwork observations in Greenland, revealed that by the year 2200 lubrication would only add a maximum of 8mm to sea-level rise – less than 5 per cent of the total projected contribution from the Greenland ice sheet.

In fact in some of their simulations the lubricating effect had a negative impact on sea-level rise – in other words it alone could lead to a lowering of sea-level (ignoring the other major factors).

…[/font][/font]

http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1212647110 (Doesn’t work yet.)
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/08/08/1212647110.abstract

[pscot]

1. If we ignore enough "other major factors"

the future looks extremely bright.