In the recent study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that climate change is causing Greenland’s massive ice sheets to melt much faster than previously thought. Just a week ago, it was revealed that the ice shelf at Antarctica is melting faster than in the 1980s.
According to the study, the ice sheet of Greenland is melting four times faster than in 2003. The ice sheet is melting due to continued and accelerating warming of the Earth’s atmosphere. This may lead to a faster rise in the sea level.
In another study, published last month in the scientific journal Nature, found that Greenland’s ice sheets which contain enough water to raise global sea levels by 23 feet. These ice sheets have been melting at an “unprecedented” rate, 50 percent higher than pre-industrial levels and 33 percent above 20th-century levels.
We need to worry about the rising level of the sea as 40 to 50 percent of the planet’s population lives in areas which are vulnerable to rising seas and eight of the Earth’s 10 largest cities that are near the coasts.
The study also found that the largest sustained ice loss from early 2003 to mid-2013 came from Greenland’s southwest region, which is mostly devoid of large glaciers.
“Whatever this was, it couldn’t be explained by glaciers, because there are not many there. It had to be the surface mass – the ice was melting inland from the coastline,” said Michael Bevis, a professor at The Ohio State University in the US.
That melting, which researchers believe is largely caused by global warming, means that in the southwestern part of Greenland, growing rivers of water are streaming into the ocean during summer.
It seems like humanity may have passed the point of no return when it comes to combating climate change. The only thing we can do is adapt and mitigate further global warming. It is too late for there to be no effect. The doomsday clock is ticking.
