Melting of the Greenland ice sheet has hit a rate unmatched in the last 12,000 years and is accelerating, scientists have confirmed.
Greenland lost more ice last year than in any year on record, and the melting has accelerated rapidly since the 1990s.?
But in the context of Earth's 4.5 billion-plus year history, melting in any one year or even a few decades amounts to the blink of an eye.
The scientists warned Greenland＊s rate of ice loss is on its way to becoming ※greater than anything we＊ve ever seen§ in the 12,000 years unless there are huge changes to greenhouse gas emissions.?
Also Read:?Temperature Rise Saw Greenland Lose 586 Million Tonnes Of Ice In 2019, Should India Be Worried?
The study, which has been published in the science journal Nature, is based on the simulations of the changes in the Greenland ice sheet from the beginning of the Holocene epoch 每 around 12,000 years ago 每 and going forward until 2100.
"We know there's a lot of year-to-year variability, so what we were interested in doing is capturing the more meaningful trends over decades and maybe up to a century," said Jason Briner, a professor of geology at the University at Buffalo, and the lead author of the study.?
Also Read:?Greenland Ice Sheet Has Reached Point Of No Return, Thanks To Global Warming
"And when you do that, and think about the direction that Greenland is heading this century, it's pretty clear we're in quite anomalous times."
According to the study, ice mass loss rates during the end of the last ice age are comparable to the loss that occurred between 2000 and 2018 - about 6.1 billion metric tonnes per century.?
Future mass loss could be catastrophic 〞 between 8.8 billion metric tons and 35.9 billion metric tonnes, depending on the level of greenhouse gas emissions.?
"It is no secret that the Greenland Ice Sheet is in rough shape and is losing ice at an increasing rate," said co-author Dr. Nicol芍s Young, from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
Greenland is currently the largest contributor to sea level rise 〞 holding enough frozen water to raise sea levels by at least 20 feet 〞 with Antarctica not far behind. As sea levels increase, coastal storms become more intense and devastating, meaning coastal cities and towns will either need to build stronger flood defenses or retreat inland altogether.
The researchers reiterated their ongoing call to world leaders to reduce emissions in order to slow ice sheet melting and reduce sea level rise.? ?