An alarming new study reveals that one of Greenland's largest glaciers is melting into the ocean - fast.
Climate scientists have been warning about the potential for sea level rise from the ice stored near the poles of the earth for years now, and their message is finally starting to be heard. According to a report from CBS News, a new study from the University of California, Irvine warns that a rapidly receding glacier in Greenland, the Zachariae Isstrom glacier, could cause the sea level to rise for decades if it were all to melt.
The glacier is one of three main glaciers on Greenland, and drains into the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream, which empties 12 percent of the island’s land ice sheet. The study, funded by NASA reports that the rate of melting on this glacier appears to be accelerating; the velocity of the ice has nearly tripled since 2012.
The glacier drains from a 35,440 square-mile area, which accounts for roughly 5 percent of the total ice mass on the island. NASA fears that the glacier holds enough freshwater to raise global sea levels by as much as 18 inches.
According to the study’s lead author Jeremie Mouginot, “North Greenland glaciers are changing rapidly. The shape and dynamics of Zachariae Isstrom have changed dramatically over the last few years. The glacier is now breaking up and calving high volumes of icebergs into the ocean.”
The glaciers on Greenland face threats from above and below; warming air temperatures accelerate melting on the surface, while rising ocean temperatures lap away at the coastal ice and break it off into the sea. The authors of the study said that the potential changes to sea level from the melting of Greenland’s glaciers are “staggering.”
A press release from the University of California, Irvine outlining the details of the recent study can be found here.