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UCLA-led study shows how rivers of meltwater on Greenland’s ice sheet contribute to rising sea level
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-study-shows-rivers-meltwater-on-greenlands-ice-sheet-contribute-rising-sea-levels[font face=Serif][font size=5]UCLA-led study shows how rivers of meltwater on Greenland’s ice sheet contribute to rising sea levels[/font]
[font size=4]Research will help improve understanding of global warming’s impact[/font]
Meg Sullivan | January 12, 2015
[font size=3]As the largest single chunk of melting snow and ice in the world, the massive ice sheet that covers about 80 percent of Greenland is recognized as the biggest potential contributor to rising sea levels due to glacial meltwater.
Until now, however, scientists’ attention has mostly focused on the ice sheet’s aquamarine lakes — bodies of meltwater that tend to abruptly drain — and on monster chunks of ice that slide into the ocean to become icebergs.
But a new UCLA-led study reveals a vast network of little-understood rivers and streams flowing on top of the ice sheet that could be responsible for at least as much, if not more, sea-level rise as the other two sources combined.
…
The research, published in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, highlights the fragility of the ice sheet as well as the amount of havoc it could create as global warming progresses.
…[/font][/font]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1413024112 (Doesn’t work yet.)
[font size=4]Research will help improve understanding of global warming’s impact[/font]
Meg Sullivan | January 12, 2015
[font size=3]As the largest single chunk of melting snow and ice in the world, the massive ice sheet that covers about 80 percent of Greenland is recognized as the biggest potential contributor to rising sea levels due to glacial meltwater.
Until now, however, scientists’ attention has mostly focused on the ice sheet’s aquamarine lakes — bodies of meltwater that tend to abruptly drain — and on monster chunks of ice that slide into the ocean to become icebergs.
But a new UCLA-led study reveals a vast network of little-understood rivers and streams flowing on top of the ice sheet that could be responsible for at least as much, if not more, sea-level rise as the other two sources combined.
…
The research, published in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, highlights the fragility of the ice sheet as well as the amount of havoc it could create as global warming progresses.
…[/font][/font]
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/01/07/1413024112.abstract