How immense loss of ice from Greenland Ice Sheet can affect climate adversely?

The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing ice at a very fast rate, making it the largest single contributor to rising sea levels.

And now data released by Danish researchers this week states that Greenland’s ice sheet has lost immense ice in the past 20 years to submerge the entire United States in half a metre of water.

Faster flow of outlet glaciers has substantially contributed to this loss of ice at rapid speed. Study finds that increased glacier discharge was due almost entirely to the retreat of glacier fronts, rather than inland ice sheet processes. The climate is warming faster in the Arctic than anywhere else on the planet and melting ice from Greenland is now the main factor in the rise in the Earth’s oceans, according to NASA.

Polar Portal, a joint project involving several Danish Arctic research institutes have come up with certain findings which are alarming for the nature. Polar Portal’s findings are based on satellite imagery from the US-German GRACE programme (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment).

Findings of the study

Greenland ice sheet has lost about 4,700 billion tonnes of ice since 2002 from when measurements began.

This represents 4,700 cubic kilometres of melted water, enough to cover the entire US by half a meter.

The loss of ice has contributed 1.2 centimetres to sea level rise, the Arctic monitoring website added.

Findings shows the ice melt is most severe near the coasts of the Arctic territory, at the edge of ice sheet.

Climate change is seen in Arctic which is warming at a rate three to four times the global average, say scientists.

Independent observations also indicate that the ice is thinning in these peripheral zones.

Glacier fronts are retreating in fjords and on land, and there is a greater degree of melting from the surface of ice.

The west coast of Greenland is particularly affected, according to the data collected by the researchers.

Melting ice from Greenland is currently the main factor in the rise in the Earth’s oceans.

The territory’s glaciers are now retreating six to seven times faster than they were 25 years ago, NASA said.

The accelerated melting near Greenland’s coasts can be explained by the warming of the Arctic Ocean, says NASA.

The Greenland ice sheet contains enough water to raise the oceans by more than seven metres.

The ice sheet in Antarctica contains enough water for a rise of almost 50 metres.

Arctic sea ice cover has also shrunk considerably, losing almost 13% of its average surface area every 10 years.