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posted by chromas on Saturday August 22 2020, @10:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the friend-or-floe? dept.

Sea level rise quickens as Greenland ice sheet sheds record amount:

Greenland's massive ice sheet saw a record net loss of 532 billion tonnes last year, raising red flags about accelerating sea level rise, according to new findings.

That is equivalent to an additional three million tonnes of water streaming into global oceans every day, or six Olympic pools every second.

Crumbling glaciers and torrents of melt-water slicing through Greenland's ice block—as thick as ten Eiffel Towers end-to-end—were the single biggest source of global sea level rise in 2019 and accounted for 40 percent of the total, researchers reported in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

[...] "2019 and the four other record-loss years have all occurred in the last decade," lead author Ingo Sasgen, a glaciologist at the Helmholtze Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, told AFP.

The ice sheet is now tracking the worst-case global warming scenario of the UN's climate science advisory panel, the IPCC, noted Andrew Shepherd, director of the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at the University of Leeds.

[...] Until 2000, Greenland's [runoff ...] was compensated by fresh snowfall.

[...] In 2019, the ice sheet lost a total of 1.13 trillion tonnes, about 45 percent from glaciers sliding into the sea, and 55 percent from melted ice, said Sasgen. It gained about 600 billion tonnes through precipitation.

A study in the same journal last week concluded that the Greenland's ice sheet has passed a "tipping point", and is now doomed to disintegrate, though on what time scale is unknown.

Journal References:
Ingo Sasgen, Bert Wouters, Alex S. Gardner, et al. Return to rapid ice loss in Greenland and record loss in 2019 detected by the GRACE-FO satellites [open], Communications Earth & Environment (DOI: 10.1038/s43247-020-0010-1)

Michalea D. King, Ian M. Howat, Salvatore G. Candela, et al. Dynamic ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet driven by sustained glacier retreat [open], Communications Earth & Environment (DOI: 10.1038/s43247-020-0001-2)


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 22 2020, @10:54PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 22 2020, @10:54PM (#1040545)

    Lololol

    So now your arguments are down to "it isn't as bad as it was at one point" while ignoring the trends that show it will get much worse. Y'all are some true idiots and base your entire world view around identity politics. Which of course is why conservatives started whining about identity politics so they could gaslight everyone else while being the worst identity politics group around. Sadly your bullshit is contagious and is stopping humanity from making progress on saving lives and preventing disaster.

    Such total assholes. "Muh capitalism" when no one said anything about taking it away, what clowns.

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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2020, @02:08AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2020, @02:08AM (#1040610)

    ^ When you're looking to pick a fight with khallow but get triggered by another AC mocking you by referencing science. [harvard.edu]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2020, @03:36AM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2020, @03:36AM (#1040645)

      Oh right, the climate change that was not influenced by massive human industrialization is a perfect comparison. Maybe you should put more effort into your education.

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday August 23 2020, @04:39AM (3 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday August 23 2020, @04:39AM (#1040671) Journal

        Oh right, the climate change that was not influenced by massive human industrialization is a perfect comparison.

        Doesn't have to be perfect to be adequate.

        • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2020, @08:02PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2020, @08:02PM (#1040893)

          But it is not. It is missing a massive influence present in today's atmosphere, but you knew that and are simply playing the typical rightwing Must Win game.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday August 23 2020, @10:28PM (1 child)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday August 23 2020, @10:28PM (#1040939) Journal

            But it is not. It is missing a massive influence present in today's atmosphere

            Something else provided a similar massive influence back then. As I noted, these comparisons don't break just because they aren't perfect.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 25 2020, @04:01AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 25 2020, @04:01AM (#1041469)

              "Something else"

              The brilliant logic of khallow, here highlighting the absolute void that sits between his ears.