Greenland's glaciers could be shrinking more in response to climate warming than scientists had thought.
Shfaqat Khan of the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby and his colleagues used data from a network of Global Positioning System stations across Greenland (pictured) to measure the rise of land resulting from ice loss and estimated changes since the last ice age. The uplift observed — more than 12 millimetres per year in some regions — exceeded model-derived rates by several millimetres on average. Previous satellite measurements have not accurately accounted for the response of solid Earth to ice-load changes, and thus underestimate current ice-mass loss by some 17 billion tonnes per year, the authors conclude.
The new data suggest that ice loss from Greenland has caused 4.6 metres of sea-level rise — 44% more than some previous estimates — since the last ice age.
Notes
Clarification
The article previously stated that sea-level rise from Greenland ice loss was 44% more than previous estimates. This is 44% more than some estimates. Others have given similar or greater values.
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Greenland ice loss underestimated. Nature 537, 588 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/537588a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/537588a