One can also add ice into the mix:
global ice mass loss has accelerated in the last decade, despite what appears to be a surface temp flattening.
The total
global ice mass lost from Greenland, Antarctica and Earth's glaciers and ice caps during the study period was about 4.3 trillion tons (1,000 cubic miles), adding about 0.5 inches (12 millimeters) to global sea level.
Not exact matches
For more than a decade these Earth - observing satellites have provided some of the first environmental measurements on a
global scale, including large - scale changes in the
mass of polar
ice.
It's a research approach new to glaciology that could lead to more accurate predictions for
ice -
mass loss and
global sea - level rise.
The melting of Greenland contributes to the
global sea level, but the loss of
mass also means that the
ice sheet's own gravitational field weakens and thus does not attract the surrounding sea as strongly.
The reduction in the
ice mass has contributed to
global average sea - level rise of 25 millimeters.
The results highlight how the interaction between ocean conditions and the bedrock beneath a glacier can influence the frozen
mass, helping scientists better predict future Antarctica
ice loss and
global sea level rise.
To reach further back in time and provide a long - term record that can inform
global climate models, scientists are turning to other means of measuring
ice mass.
Rising
global temperatures have also made glaciers —
ice masses that currently occupy nearly 10 percent of the world's total land area — increasingly unstable.
Joughin et al. (2010) applied a numerical
ice sheet model to predicting the future of PIG, their model suggested ongoing loss of
ice mass from PIG, with a maximum rate of
global sea level rise of 2.7 cm per century.
Mitrovica, J. X., Tamisiea, M. E., Davis, J. L. & Milne, G. A. Recent
mass balance of polar
ice sheets inferred from patterns of
global sea - level change.
During glaciation, water was taken from the oceans to form the
ice at high latitudes, thus
global sea level drops by about 120 meters, exposing the continental shelves and forming land - bridges between land -
masses for animals to migrate.
This implies that large - scale observations — for example, of
global mean sea - level change or of the change
mass of the Antarctic
ice sheet — will not on their own significantly narrow the range of late - century sea - level projections for decades to come.
and therefore to be able to make a stronger statement on how unique the current and apparently
global warming related
ice mass loss is» for Greenland, he says.
An
ice age is brought on by the effects of
global warming and paleoclimatologist Jack Hall struggles through the
masses fleeing south for warmer climate on his way north to reunite with his son.
Our modelled values are consistent with current rates of Antarctic
ice loss and sea - level rise, and imply that accelerated
mass loss from marine - based portions of Antarctic
ice sheets may ensue when an increase in
global mean air temperature of only 1.4 - 2.0 deg.
«suggesting that Arctic warming will continue to greatly exceed the
global average over the coming century, with concomitant reductions in terrestrial
ice masses and, consequently, an increasing rate of sea level rise.»
I think these are simply features of
global climate that are embedded and as predictable as other large features like hurricane patterns, the gulf stream, the jet stream, sea
ice extent and
mass,
global glacial conditions, sea level etc..
-- Climate impacts:
global temperatures,
ice cap melting, ocean currents, ENSO, volcanic impacts, tipping points, severe weather events — Environment impacts: ecosystem changes, disease vectors, coastal flooding, marine ecosystem, agricultural system — Government actions: US political views, world - wide political views, carbon tax / cap - and - trade restrictions, state and city efforts — Reducing GHGs: + electric power systems: fossil fuel use, conservation, solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear, tidal, other + transportation sector: conservation,
mass transit, high speed rail, air travel, auto / truck (mileage issues, PHEVs, EVs, biofuels, hydrogen) + architectural structure design: home / office energy use, home / office conservation, passive solar, other
The total 2000 — 2008
mass loss of ~ 1500 gigatons, equivalent to 0.46 millimeters per year of
global sea level rise, is equally split between surface processes (runoff and precipitation) and
ice dynamics.
This is despite using observed
ice sheet
mass loss (0.19 mm / year) in the «modelled» number in this comparison, otherwise the discrepancy would be even larger — the
ice sheet models predict that the
ice sheets gain
mass due to
global warming.
• Current
global model studies project that the Antarctic
ice sheet will remain too cold for widespread surface melting and is expected to gain in
mass due to increased snowfall.
The contribution from glaciers and
ice caps (not including Greenland and Antarctica), on the other hand, is computed from a simple empirical formula linking
global mean temperature to
mass loss (equivalent to a rate of sea level rise), based on observed data from 1963 to 2003.
Given the level of denialism in the face of glacial
mass loss, plummeting Arctic summer
ice cover, progressive collapse of
ice shelves that have been stable for 6000 to 10000 years, northward, upward, and seasonally earlier movements of ecosystems and other phenological changes, increasing Greenland
ice melt, and all the other direct observations of
global warming, I think denialists will go to their graves believing it can't be happening.
The overall
global glacier
mass balance trend is shown on the National Snow and
Ice Data Center (NDIS) graph here.
In light of this prediction and
global climate model forecasts for continued high - latitude warming, the
ice sheet
mass budget deficit is likely to continue to grow in the coming decades.
Arctic sea
ice continues to decline rapidly, as does
global glacier
mass.
A rise in
global mean sea level of between 0.09 and 0.88 metres by 2100 has been projected, mainly due to the thermal expansion of sea water and loss of
mass from
ice caps and glaciers».
bozzza - The differences in the Arctic are perhaps 1/4 the ocean thermal
mass as
global ocean averages, small overall size (the smallest ocean), being almost surrounded by land (which warms faster), more limited liquid interchanges due to bottlenecking than the Antarctic, and very importantly considerable susceptibility to positive albedo feedbacks; as less summer
ice is present given current trends, solar energy absorbed by the Arctic ocean goes up very rapidly.
If all of the currently attainable carbon resources [estimated to be between 8500 and 13.600 GtC (4)-RSB- were burned, the Antarctic
Ice Sheet would lose most of its mass, raising global sea level by more than 50 m. For the 125 GtC as well as the 500, 800, 2500, and 5000 GtC scenarios, the ice - covered area is depicted in white (ice - free bedrock in brow
Ice Sheet would lose most of its
mass, raising
global sea level by more than 50 m. For the 125 GtC as well as the 500, 800, 2500, and 5000 GtC scenarios, the
ice - covered area is depicted in white (ice - free bedrock in brow
ice - covered area is depicted in white (
ice - free bedrock in brow
ice - free bedrock in brown).
We know from satellite measurements that the Greenland and West Antarctic
ice sheets (GIS and WAIS respectively) are losing
mass in response to
global warming, and that, in the case of the partly sea - based West Antarctica
ice - sheet, basal melting of the
ice by warmer ocean - water is likely to be a key mechanism.
The backdrop to the renewed interest in asserting territorial claims on the Arctic and Antarctic by states such as Canada, the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom is that
global warming, and in particular the warming of oceans, is leading to accelerating erosion of the
ice mass at both poles.
Because
ice sheets contain so much
ice and have the potential to raise or lower
global sea level so dramatically, measuring the
mass balance of the
ice sheets and tracking any
mass balance changes and their causes is very important for forecasting sea level rise.
Between April 2002 and April 2006, GRACE data uncovered
ice mass loss in Greenland of 248 ± 36 cubic kilometers per year, an amount equivalent to a
global sea rise of 0.5 ± 0.1 millimeters per year.
In theory, if a large
mass of glaciers or
ice sheets melted, this could cause a
global sea level rise.
Also,
ice masses occur over cold regions — are
ice cores true measures of
global or regional climate - shift dynamics?
To assess these implications, we translate
global into local SLR projections using a model of spatial variation in sea - level contributions caused by isostatic deformation and changes in gravity as the Greenland and Antarctic
ice sheets lose
mass (36 ⇓ — 38), represented as two
global 0.5 ° matrices of scalar adjustment factors to the
ice sheets» respective median
global contributions to SLR and (squared) to their variances.
If both Greenland and West Antarctica shed the entirety of their
ice burden,
global sea levels would rise by 12 to 14 m. Although these icecaps would not disintegrate within a century, the loss of even a third of their
mass — quite plausible if the rate of polar
ice loss continues to double each decade — would force up the oceans by at least 4 m, with disastrous socioeconomic and environmental consequences.
The unmitigated exposure to prophecies of imminent
ice ages, looming hell fire,
mass starvation, mega-droughts,
global epidemics and
mass extinction is an experience I would not recommend to anyone with a thin - skinned disposition (although the news media couldn» t get enough of it).
The confusion on this subject lies in the fact that only about 2 percent of
global warming is used in heating air, whereas about 90 percent of
global warming goes into heating the oceans (the rest heats
ice and land
masses).
Besides these thousands of thermometer readings from weather stations around the world, there are many other clear indicators of
global warming such as rising ocean temperatures, sea level, and atmospheric humidity, and declining snow cover, glacier
mass, and sea
ice.
«A high - resolution record of Greenland
mass balance» «Antarctica, Greenland and Gulf of Alaska land -
ice evolution from an iterated GRACE
global mascon solution» «Greenland and Antarctica
ice sheet
mass changes and effects on
global sea level»
Greenland
Ice Sheet: There has been strong disagreement among some researchers if the Greenland
Ice Sheet is losing
mass due to carbon dioxide - caused
global warming or due to other means.
«It is very likely that the rate of
global mean sea level rise during the 21st century will exceed the rate observed during 1971 — 2010 for all Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios due to increases in ocean warming and loss of
mass from glaciers and
ice sheets.
Both the observations of
mass balance and the estimates based on temperature changes (Table 11.4) indicate a reduction of
mass of glaciers and
ice caps in the recent past, giving a contribution to
global - average sea level of 0.2 to 0.4 mm / yr over the last hundred years.
However, despite this, the team reckon to have perhaps isolated a «
global warming» signal in the accelerated run off of the Greenland
Ice Mass — but only just, because the runoff at the edges is balanced by increasing central mass — again, they focus upon recent trends — a net loss of about 22 cubic kilometres in total ice mass per year which they regard as statistically not significant — to find the «signal», and a contradiction to their ealier context of air temperature cycl
Ice Mass — but only just, because the runoff at the edges is balanced by increasing central
mass — again, they focus upon recent trends — a net loss of about 22 cubic kilometres in total
ice mass per year which they regard as statistically not significant — to find the «signal», and a contradiction to their ealier context of air temperature cycl
ice mass per year which they regard as statistically not significant — to find the «signal», and a contradiction to their ealier context of air temperature cycles.
Need to take a
global perspective, on both sources and destination for the
mass exchange of waster into
ice and between land and ocean that is likely to occur in the 21st Century.
Perhaps with all that is known now, someone will propose a well - defined multivariate test entailing all relevant
global data (including Antarctic
ice extent and total Antarctic
ice mass, mean and extremal rainfall everywhere, mean and extremal cyclonic storms everywhere.)
Ancillary to Bob Loblaw's fine comment at 232, previous research has shown that
ice sheet
mass contributions from land - based
ice sheets have exceeded thermal expansion as the biggest contributor to
global sea level rise.
Interestingly, previous research has shown that
ice sheet
mass contributions from land - based
ice sheets have exceeded thermal expansion as the biggest contributor to
global sea level rise.