Sentences with phrase «major ice sheet mass»

If ice sheet disintegration reaches a point such that the dynamics and momentum of the process take over, at that point reducing greenhouse gases may be unable to prevent major ice sheet mass loss, sea level rise of many meters, and worldwide loss of coastal cities — a consequence that is irreversible for practical purposes.

If ice sheet disintegration reaches a point such that the dynamics and momentum of the process take over, at that point reducing greenhouse gases may be unable to prevent major ice sheet mass loss, sea level rise of many meters, and worldwide loss of coastal cities — a consequence that is irreversible for practical purposes.

Not exact matches

But the IPCC specifically excluded the mechanism able to produce the biggest amounts of water quickly - acceleration in the flow of ice from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the world's two major ice masses that would between them raise sea levels by about 70m if they completely melted.

So does mass change at the Earth's surface, which can come from shifts in ice sheets, or even possibly in major atmospheric wind currents.

«As a result, the loss of glacier mass worldwide, along with the corresponding release of carbon, will affect high latitude marine ecosystems, particularly those surrounding the major ice sheets that now receive fairly limited land - to - ocean fluxes of carbon.»

They conclude with another warning: ``... if major shifts in sea ice cover and ocean circulation tip even large ice shelf cavities from cold to warm (35), there could be major changes in ice shelf and thus ice sheet mass balance.»

Hansen and Sato (7) argue that the climate of the most recent few decades is probably warmer than prior Holocene levels, based on the fact that the major ice sheets in both hemispheres are presently losing mass rapidly (9) and global sea level is rising at a rate of more than 3 m / millennium (25), which is much greater than the slow rate of sea level change (less than 1 m / millennium) in the latter half of the Holocene (26).

Future changes in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet mass, particularly due to changes in ice flow, are a major source of uncertainty that could increase sea level rise projections.

During an interval when sea level is forced upward from a major low stand by a Milankovitch response acting either alone or in combination with an internally driven, higher - frequency process, ice sheets grounded on continental shelves become unstable, mass wasting accelerates, and the resulting deglaciation sets the phase of one wave in the train of 100,000 - year oscillations.