(ORDO NEWS) — Even if the entire world stopped burning fossil fuels today, the Greenland ice sheet would still lose about 110 quadrillion tons of ice.
As climate change continues to wreak havoc around the world, from extreme droughts in China to severe floods in parts of India and Pakistan, another major problem is brewing in an isolated corner of the planet. Greenland is on track to raise global sea levels by at least 27 centimeters.
The latest forecast made by climatologists shows a two-fold increase in previous forecasts , and it is associated with the so-called zombie ice.
This dead ice, still attached to thicker patches of ice, is no longer replenished by parent glaciers that now receive less snow and is now simply melting from uncontrolled climate change.
Researchers from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland noted that even if the entire world stopped burning fossil fuels today, the Greenland ice sheet would still lose about 110 quadrillion tons of ice, leading to an increase in the average global sea level of at least 27 centimeters.
“In fact, we will see that figure more than double over the course of this century.
In the foreseeable scenario in which global warming only continues, the contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to sea level rise will only increase,” said study leader Professor Jason Box.
A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change suggests that sea levels could rise by almost 30 centimeters.
Scientists studied the climate in the Arctic from 2000 to 2019 and found an imbalance that has developed in the Greenland ice sheet. The researchers found that the shape of the ice came into motion to correct this imbalance.
“If we take the extreme 2012 melt year and assume it is a hypothetical average permanent climate at the end of this century, then the mass loss of the Greenland ice sheet more than doubles to 78cm,” Jason Box added.
In perfect balance, falling snow in the mountains of Greenland moves down and thickens the walls of the glaciers, thereby balancing the loss of ice at the edges.
But in the past few decades, there has been little replenishment of ice with a lot of melt, which creates an imbalance.
The authors of the study looked at the ratio of what is added to what is lost and calculated that 3.3% of the total amount of ice in Greenland will melt no matter what happens to the world that reduces carbon emissions.
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