As one of the central tenets of climate change catastrophe involves inundation by rapidly rising seas, we like to visit the issue from time to time here at World Climate Report. Interestingly, or perhaps some may prefer predictably, we usually are able to uncover plenty of science that indicates that the situation is not nearly so dire.
More evidence of this was published this week in Science magazine.
A paper by Twila Moon, Ian Joughin, Ben Smith, and Ian Howat titled "21st Century Evolution of Greenland Outlet Glacier Velocities" examined the flow characteristics from nearly 200 glaciers across Greenland for the period 2000-2010 as analyzed using synthetic aperture radar data collected from various satellites. Moon and colleagues assessed changes in the flow rate of each of the glaciers.
And what they found-much like what is found whenever the climate system is examined in detail rather than painted with a broad brush-was that the patterns of flow rate changes across Greenland were complex, both in space and time. Glaciers that were accelerating during a few years were found to be decelerating in others. Some accelerating glaciers were found in close proximity to other glaciers that were decelerating. The authors hypothesize that a variety of local factors are important in controlling the flow rate of individual glaciers including "fjord, glacier, and bed geometry," "local climate" and "small-scale ocean water flow and terminus sea ice conditions."
Moon et al. were able to make a few regional generalizations. Glaciers in the northwestern portion of Greenland typically showed accelerations thought the 2000-2010 period, while glaciers in southeastern Greenland showed a speed up from about 2000-2005 and then their flow rate remained fair steady from 2006-2010.