Future sea-level projections with a coupled atmosphere-ocean-ice-sheet model
- Journal:
- Nature Communications
- Published:
- DOI:
- 10.1038/s41467-023-36051-9
- Affiliations:
- 6
- Authors:
- 6
Research Highlight
Sea level rises depend on interplay between ice and climate
© Mariusz Kluzniak/Moment/Getty Images
When predicting rising sea levels, it is important to factor in the complex interactions between ice sheets, the oceans and the atmosphere.
The global sea level has already risen by 20 centimetres over the past century, and models predict that this rise is likely to accelerate.
The melting of ice sheets is one of the biggest contributors to rising sea levels, but it is also one of the most complex to model. In particular, most models only consider the effect of climate on ice sheets, but not how ice sheets influence the climate.
Now, a team led by researchers from the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea has modelled the complex interactions between ice sheets, the oceans and the atmosphere.
Their model predicts that the contribution of melting of ice sheets in Antarctica to sea levels will be lower than those predicted by models that don’t consider these interactions.
References
- Nature Communications 14, 636 (2023). doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36051-9