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Greenland's glaciers might be melting 100 times as fast as previously thought
https://phys.org/news/2022-12-greenland-glaciers-fast-previously-thought.ampA computer model has been created by researchers at the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin that determines the rate at which Greenland's glacier fronts are melting.
Published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the model is the first designed specifically for vertical glacier fronts—where ice meets the ocean at a sharp angle. It reflects recent observations of an Alaskan glacier front melting up to 100 times as fast as previously assumed. According to the researchers, the model can be used to improve both ocean and ice sheet models, which are crucial elements of any global climate model.
"Up to now, glacier front melt models have been based on results from the Antarctic, where the system is quite different," said lead author Kirstin Schulz, a research associate in the Oden Institute's Computational Research in Ice and Ocean Systems Group (CRIOS). "By using our model in an ocean or climate model, we can get a much better idea of how vertical glacier fronts are melting."
The melting of the Greenland ice sheet is a major predictor of sea level rise. This frozen stretch of glaciers is the second-largest on Earth and covers about 80% of the Nordic nation. If it melts entirely, as it did at the height of the Eemian interglacial period about 125,000 years ago, global sea levels could rise by 20 feet—or approximately 6.1 meters.
Published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the model is the first designed specifically for vertical glacier fronts—where ice meets the ocean at a sharp angle. It reflects recent observations of an Alaskan glacier front melting up to 100 times as fast as previously assumed. According to the researchers, the model can be used to improve both ocean and ice sheet models, which are crucial elements of any global climate model.
"Up to now, glacier front melt models have been based on results from the Antarctic, where the system is quite different," said lead author Kirstin Schulz, a research associate in the Oden Institute's Computational Research in Ice and Ocean Systems Group (CRIOS). "By using our model in an ocean or climate model, we can get a much better idea of how vertical glacier fronts are melting."
The melting of the Greenland ice sheet is a major predictor of sea level rise. This frozen stretch of glaciers is the second-largest on Earth and covers about 80% of the Nordic nation. If it melts entirely, as it did at the height of the Eemian interglacial period about 125,000 years ago, global sea levels could rise by 20 feet—or approximately 6.1 meters.
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
I just finished the other article you posted about coal use at an all time high. Our big brains don't seem to be getting us out of this mess like so many claim will happen.
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New Jersey "ghost forest" caused by the death of the cedar tree from the salt water from the rising
sea levels
New Jersey "ghost forest" caused by the death of the cedar tree from the salt water from the rising
sea levels