Greenland ice loss could raise sea levels by nearly a foot: study

A massive Greenland ice sheet is set to raise global sea levels by nearly a foot by the end of this century, in a melting event caused by human-induced climate change. According to a study published on Monday.

The results in the journal Nature Climate Change show that 3.3% of Greenland’s glaciers could melt, equivalent to 110 trillion tons of ice. Ice loss could cause sea levels to rise by about 10 centimeters between now and 2100.

Scientists warn that even if the world immediately stops emitting the greenhouse gases that warm the planet, collapse is inevitable. The study expects sea levels to rise by at least 10 centimeters, more than twice the rate of sea level rise that researchers had previously predicted based on melting Greenland’s ice sheet.

It is the second largest ice sheet in the world after the Antarctic ice sheet and covers 80% of the island. Previous research indicated that if all the ice sheets melted, global sea levels could rise as high as 23 feet.

Scientists in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States conducted the study using satellite measurements of Greenland ice loss and ice sheet shape between 2000 and 2019.

The researchers estimated the ratio between Greenland ice loss and loss from snowmelt, concluding that 3.3% of Greenland’s total ice volume will melt by the end of this century, regardless of the speed of global carbon dioxide emissions.

Climate change caused by burning fossil fuels has led to longer summers in Greenland and accelerated the retreat of the island’s glaciers and ice sheets.

One step up Global sea level will have a significant impact on coastal communities. Sea-level rise threatens to displace nearly 200 million people by the end of this century. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the coastal population of the United States accounts for 40% of the total US population and $7.9 trillion of GDP.