Sentences with phrase «mountain glaciers and the ice sheets»

Not exact matches

Impacts of thermal expansion and melting mountain glaciers can be predicted with moderate confidence, but more uncertainty remains in the potential behavior of polar ice sheets.

This allowed them to calculate the redistribution of mass on Earth's surface due to the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and mountain glaciers, and model the shift in Earth's axis.

Scientists have a pretty good idea of how thermal expansion and melting mountain glaciers will play out over the long term, but when it comes to the ice sheets, «we have no idea,» Willis says.

The data allowed them to calculate the redistribution of mass on Earth's surface due to the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and mountain glaciers, and the resulting rise in sea level.

Global warming causes mountain glaciers to melt, which, apart from the shrinking of the Greenlandic and Antarctic ice sheets, is regarded as one of the main causes of the present global sea - level rise.

«I don't think we expected ice sheets to run neck - and - neck with mountain glaciers, which basically sit in a warmer climate, this soon,» he said.

«The traditional view of the loss of land ice on Earth has been that mountain glaciers and ice caps are the dominant contributors, and ice sheets are following behind,» said study co-author Eric Rignot, a glaciologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of California, Irvine.

But that could soon change, Rignot said, because the rate at which ice sheets are losing mass is increasing three times faster than the rate of ice loss from mountain glaciers and ice caps.

«In this study, we are showing that ice sheets, mountain glaciers and ice caps are neck - and - neck.»

Glaciers are found in mountain valleys and also form parts of ice sheets.

[SLIDE 17] And so not surprisingly sea level is rising as a result not only of the loss of mountain glaciers and the great land ice sheets — losses from the great land ice sheets; but also thermal expansion of sea water because the ocean is getting warmAnd so not surprisingly sea level is rising as a result not only of the loss of mountain glaciers and the great land ice sheets — losses from the great land ice sheets; but also thermal expansion of sea water because the ocean is getting warmand the great land ice sheets — losses from the great land ice sheets; but also thermal expansion of sea water because the ocean is getting warmer.

Many scientists concede that without drastic emissions reductions by 2020, we are on the path toward a 4C rise as early as mid-century, with catastrophic consequences, including the loss of the world's coral reefs; the disappearance of major mountain glaciers; the total loss of the Arctic summer sea - ice, most of the Greenland ice - sheet and the break - up of West Antarctica; acidification and overheating of the oceans; the collapse of the Amazon rainforest; and the loss of Arctic permafrost; to name just a few.

Combined with melting from mountain glaciers and the Greenland Ice Sheet, this could result in flooding of low - lying areas of Earth over the next century.

Models of mountain (alpine) glaciers are applied to solve similar problems to those models used for polar ice sheets, but typically have a higher resolution (a smaller grid size) and need to consider the effects of steep and often variable bed slopes, and the transverse stresses found in valley glaciers.

Geoengineering proposals fall into at least three broad categories: 1) managing atmospheric greenhouse gases (e.g., ocean fertilization and atmospheric carbon capture and sequestration), 2) cooling the Earth by reflecting sunlight (e.g., putting reflective particles into the atmosphere, putting mirrors in space to reflect the sun's energy, increasing surface reflectivity and altering the amount or characteristics of clouds), and 3) moderating specific impacts of global warming (e.g., efforts to limit sea level rise by increasing land storage of water, protecting ice sheets or artificially enhancing mountain glaciers).

The great unknown, which the recent Hansen paper suggests at several metres, is the 21st century eustatic rise, due primarily to ice sheet melting (also melting of polar and mountain glaciers, and of ice shelves).

Ice age - An ice age or glacial period is characterized by a long - term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's climate, resulting in growth of continental ice sheets and mountain glaciers (glaciatioIce age - An ice age or glacial period is characterized by a long - term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's climate, resulting in growth of continental ice sheets and mountain glaciers (glaciatioice age or glacial period is characterized by a long - term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's climate, resulting in growth of continental ice sheets and mountain glaciers (glaciatioice sheets and mountain glaciers (glaciation).

Glaciers will survive only in the mountains of inner Alaska, on some Arctic archipelagos, within Patagonian ice sheets, in the Karakoram Mountains, in the Himalayas, in some regions of Tibet and on the highest mountain peaks in the temperature lmountains of inner Alaska, on some Arctic archipelagos, within Patagonian ice sheets, in the Karakoram Mountains, in the Himalayas, in some regions of Tibet and on the highest mountain peaks in the temperature lMountains, in the Himalayas, in some regions of Tibet and on the highest mountain peaks in the temperature latitudes.

We quantify sea - level commitment in the baseline case by building on Levermann et al. (10), who used physical simulations to model the SLR within a 2,000 - y envelope as the sum of the contributions of (i) ocean thermal expansion, based on six coupled climate models; (ii) mountain glacier and ice cap melting, based on surface mass balance and simplified ice dynamic models; (iii) Greenland ice sheet decay, based on a coupled regional climate model and ice sheet dynamic model; and (iv) Antarctic ice sheet decay, based on a continental - scale model parameterizing grounding line ice flux in relation to temperature.

Like marine sediment cores, an ice core provides a vertical timeline of past climates stored in ice sheets and mountain glaciers.

All ice types, including massive ice sheets, mountain glaciers and Arctic sea ice (frozen sea - surface), are for the most part melting far faster than predicted three years ago.

First, shrinking land ice, such as mountain glaciers and polar ice sheets, is releasing water into the oceans.

A NASA - funded study finds that the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are losing mass at an accelerating pace, three times faster than that of mountain glaciers and ice caps.

«(F) the cryosphere, including effects on ice sheet mass balance, mountain glacier mass balance, and sea - ice extent and volume;

Land ice includes any form of ice that lasts longer than a year on land, such as mountain glaciers, ice sheets, ice caps and ice fields (both similar to but smaller than an ice sheet), and frozen ground or permafrost.

While worries about rising sea levels are focused on the massive ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, the loss of small mountain glaciers comes with its own consequences.

Such temperatures begin to threaten key climate impacts like permafrost thaw, 3 - 4 meters of sea - level rise from West Antarctic Ice Sheet melt, risk of up to 80 percent mountain glacier loss, complete Arctic sea ice loss during summer, and 6 - 7 meters of sea level rise from Greenland meIce Sheet melt, risk of up to 80 percent mountain glacier loss, complete Arctic sea ice loss during summer, and 6 - 7 meters of sea level rise from Greenland meice loss during summer, and 6 - 7 meters of sea level rise from Greenland melt.

Between 2003 and 2009, most of the glacier ice lost was from Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, the periphery of the Greenland ice sheet, the Southern Andes and the Asian Mountains.

The main components of the cryosphere are mountain glaciers and ice caps, floating ice shelves and continental ice sheets, seasonal snow cover on land, frozen ground, sea ice and lake and river ice.

Global warming causes mountain glaciers to melt, which, apart from the shrinking of the Greenlandic and Antarctic ice sheets, is regarded as one of the main causes of the present global sea - level rise.

Until recently, the contribution of ice sheets to sea - level rise remained unknown and is still debated, but the current acceleration of sea - level rise is attributed to heating of the oceans and melting of land glaciers which is supported by measurements of ocean temperatures and the behavior of mountain glaciers, the vast majority of which are retreating or exhibit signs of instability.

For example, chapter ten, «Ice melts, sea level rises,» discusses the disappearance of tropical mountain glaciers, estimates of sea level rise in the present century, estimates of its costs — the EPA estimated in 1991 that a one - meter rise would cost the US alone between $ 270 billion and $ 475 billion — evidence of past oceanic high - water marks and glacial extents, the dynamics of ice sheet disintegration, the thermal expansion of seawater, icequakes and meltponds, ice mass loss and gain in Greenland and Antarctica, the ozone hole, and the existence and significance of «marine ice sheets.&raqIce melts, sea level rises,» discusses the disappearance of tropical mountain glaciers, estimates of sea level rise in the present century, estimates of its costs — the EPA estimated in 1991 that a one - meter rise would cost the US alone between $ 270 billion and $ 475 billion — evidence of past oceanic high - water marks and glacial extents, the dynamics of ice sheet disintegration, the thermal expansion of seawater, icequakes and meltponds, ice mass loss and gain in Greenland and Antarctica, the ozone hole, and the existence and significance of «marine ice sheets.&raqice sheet disintegration, the thermal expansion of seawater, icequakes and meltponds, ice mass loss and gain in Greenland and Antarctica, the ozone hole, and the existence and significance of «marine ice sheets.&raqice mass loss and gain in Greenland and Antarctica, the ozone hole, and the existence and significance of «marine ice sheets.&raqice sheets.»

Presenting such alternative figures confuses and undermines the public understanding of the actual science, which is an understanding about the driving mechanisms of sea level rise: thermal expansion of ocean water, melting of mountain glaciers and complex dynamics of large ice sheets — in correspondence again with projected temperature rise, that is in turn a product of projected rises of greenhouse gas concentrations using calculated estimates of climate sensitivity, together creating a net disturbance in Earth's energy balance, the very root cause of anthropogenic climate change.

These partially offsetting effects lead to the expectation that direct human shifts in water storage on land will not have large effects on sea level in comparison to the effects of ocean warming and mountain - glacier and ice - sheet melting (Wada et al., 2012), although notable uncertainties remain in regards to future groundwater use and reservoir construction, and these effects vary considerably depending on the specific location (NRC, 2012e).

The principal causes are clear: global decline of land ice (mountain glaciers & ice sheets) and thermal expansion of ocean water (water expands as it becomes warmer).

Unless global temperatures are stabilized, higher seas from melting ice sheets and mountain glaciers, combined with the heat - driven expansion of ocean water itself, will eventually lead to the displacement of millions of people as low - lying coastal areas and island nations are inundated.

Adding together the observed individual components of sea level rise (thermal expansion of the ocean water, loss of continental ice from ice sheets and mountain glaciers, terrestrial water storage) now is in reasonable agreement with the observed total sea - level rise.

Melting sea ice, ice sheets, and mountain glaciers are a clear sign of our changing climate.

The abstract is as follows: The Greenland ice - sheet would melt faster in a warmer climate and is likely to be eliminated — except for residual glaciers in the mountains — if the annual average temperature in Greenland increases by more than about 3 °C.

«Mountain glacier demise preludes the fate of the great ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica, if humanity does not come to its senses soon.

In this text, mountain glaciers exclude the large ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica and the surrounding smaller ice caps.

The data allowed them to calculate the redistribution of mass on Earth's surface due to the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and mountain glaciers, and the resulting rise in sea level.

New research from glaciologist Tad Pfeffer of the University of Colorado at Boulder and colleagues published in Science attempts to better estimate the possible sea level rise over the next century by measuring the speed at which the world's glaciers — in Greenland and Antarctica but also the many mountain ice sheets throughout the globe — are actually speeding to the sea as well as how swiftly they may melt.

Rising temperatures bring crop - shrinking heat waves, melting ice sheets, rising sea level, and shrinking mountain glaciers.

The thermosteric acceleration is small compared with the ice sheets, but on par with the acceleration from mountain glaciers and small ice caps.

«In setting this goal,» says Brown, «my colleagues and I did not ask what would be politically popular but rather what would it take to have a decent shot at saving the Greenland ice sheet and at least the larger glaciers in the mountains of Asia.»

«Many scientists concede that without drastic emissions reductions by 2020, we are on the path toward a 4C rise as early as mid-century, with catastrophic consequences, including the loss of the world's coral reefs; the disappearance of major mountain glaciers; the total loss of the Arctic summer sea - ice, most of the Greenland ice - sheet and the break - up of West Antarctica; acidification and overheating of the oceans; the collapse of the Amazon rainforest; and the loss of Arctic permafrost; to name just a few.

These OMITTED / POORLY Represented processes include the following: oceanic eddies, tides, fronts, buoyancy - driven coastal and boundary currents, cold halocline, dense water plumes and convection, double diffusion, surface / bottom mixed layer, sea ice — thickness distribution, concentration, deformation, drift and export, fast ice, snow cover, melt ponds and surface albedo, atmospheric loading, clouds and fronts, ice sheets / caps and mountain glaciers, permafrost, river runoff, and air — sea ice — land interactions and coupling.

The research suggests that mountain glaciers on Baffin Island and the huge North American ice sheet expanded quickly as the Earth cooled around 8,200 years ago.