Sentences with phrase «of ice sheet loss»

In draft versions at least, the new IPCC report does tackle the question of ice sheet loss, finding it «very likely» that melting ice and the expansion of the ocean due to its heating will lead to sea - level rise exceeding that of the last century.

The report notes that there are now many new sources confirming climate impacts, including the acceleration of ice sheet loss, and takes stock of new research and understanding on ocean acidification and warming, among other recent changes.

Mercer further commented that the loss of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula, as has since been observed, would be an indicator that this process of ice sheet loss due to global warming was underway.

An international team of experts supported by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) has combined data from multiple satellites and aircraft to produce the most comprehensive and accurate assessment to date of ice sheet losses in Greenland and Antarctica and their contributions to sea level rise.

Not exact matches

There's no getting around the fact that the loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the resulting sea level rise would be pretty devastating for humanity.

«The widespread loss of Antarctic ice shelves, driven by a warming ocean or warming atmosphere, could spell disaster for our coastlines — and there is sound geological evidence that supports what the models are telling us,» said Robert M. DeConto of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a co-author of the study and one of the developers of the ice - sheet model used.

This gives confidence in the predictions of the current generation of ice - sheet models which are used to forecast future ice loss from Antarctica and resulting sea - level rise.»

While satellite measurements and climate models have detailed this recent ice loss, there are far fewer direct measurements of melt collected from the ice sheet itself.

As glaciologist Richard Alley of Pennsylvania State University notes: «The ice sheet is losing mass, this loss has increased over time, [and] it is not the dominant term in sea - level rise — but it matters.»

Yet these model - based estimates do not include the possible acceleration of recently observed increases in ice loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

Pine Island Glacier and the neighbouring Thwaites Glacier are responsible for nearly a third of total ice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and this contribution has increased greatly over the past 25 yeaice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and this contribution has increased greatly over the past 25 yeaIce Sheet, and this contribution has increased greatly over the past 25 years.

The drought that is devastating California and much of the West has dried the region so much that 240 gigatons worth of surface and groundwater have been lost, roughly the equivalent to a 3.9 - inch layer of water over the entire West, or the annual loss of mass from the Greenland Ice Sheet, according to the study.

The study fuels a growing concern among scientists about the factors affecting the Antarctic ice sheet — namely, that warm ocean waters are helping to melt glaciers and drive greater levels of ice loss, particularly in West Antarctica.

«New details of Greenland ice loss revealed: Data are dramatically increasing knowledge of how the ocean is melting the ice sheet.»

«Warming greater than 2 degrees Celsius above 19th - century levels is projected to be disruptive, reducing global agricultural productivity, causing widespread loss of biodiversity and — if sustained over centuries — melting much of the Greenland ice sheet with ensuing rise in sea levels of several meters,» the AGU declares in its first statement in four years on «Human Impacts on Climate.»

«By refining the spatial pattern of mass loss in the world's second largest — and most unstable — ice sheet, and learning how that pattern has evolved, we are steadily increasing our understanding of ice loss processes, which will lead to better - informed projections of sea level rise.»

«It doesn't change our estimates of the total mass loss all over Greenland by that much, but it brings a more significant change to our understanding of where within the ice sheet that loss has happened, and where it is happening now.»

Melting near the edges of the Greenland ice sheet, where the surface is below 4,000 feet, causes about half of its annual ice loss.

«Once you have that combination of ocean heat and atmospheric heat — which are related — that's when the ice sheet could really experience dramatic ice mass loss.»

In other words, the losses of mass of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will intensify — just like the models predict.»

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.

Those changes may include the loss of Arctic summer sea ice, the collapse of ice sheets in Greenland and western Antarctica, dieback of the Amazon rainforest and changes in the jet stream and the pattern of El Niño and La Niña weather cycles.

Dr Ian Joughin at the University of Washington, author of a recent study simulating future Antarctic ice sheet losses added: «This study does a nice job of revealing the strong thinning along the Amundsen Coast, which is consistent with theory and models indicating this region is in the early stages of collapse.»

These findings suggest that Greenland's glaciers have been experiencing increasing ice loss for at least three decades — a result that may reinforce scientists» concerns over the stability of the melting ice sheet.

«The fact that the mass loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet has generally increased over the last decades is well known,» Khan said, «but the increasing contribution from the northeastern part of the ice sheet is new and very surprising.&raqIce Sheet has generally increased over the last decades is well known,» Khan said, «but the increasing contribution from the northeastern part of the ice sheet is new and very surprising.&rSheet has generally increased over the last decades is well known,» Khan said, «but the increasing contribution from the northeastern part of the ice sheet is new and very surprising.&raqice sheet is new and very surprising.&rsheet is new and very surprising.»

The new result focuses on ice loss due to a major retreat of an outlet glacier connected to a long «river» of ice — known as an ice stream — that drains ice from the interior of the ice sheet.

«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.

Subtracting one from the other produced a «mass - balance» picture of net ice loss or growth for each ice sheet.

«Thus the increased snowfall we report here has not led to thickening of the ice sheet, but is in fact another symptom of the changes that are driving contemporary ice sheet loss.»

Kuhn, from Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute, added, «This gives confidence in the predictions of the current generation of ice sheet models which are used to forecast future ice loss from Antarctica and resulting sea - level rise.»

Increased melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet and other ice losses worldwide have helped to move the North Pole several centimeters east each year since 2Ice Sheet and other ice losses worldwide have helped to move the North Pole several centimeters east each year since 2ice losses worldwide have helped to move the North Pole several centimeters east each year since 2005

Faced by the loss of so much precious coastal land, it seems quite plausible that our descendants will resort to some kind of mega-project to cool the planet and stop the ice sheets melting.

We know, however, that rapid warming of the planet increases the risk of crossing climatic points of no return, possibly setting in motion large - scale ocean circulation changes, the loss of major ice sheets, and species extinctions.

Despite being trumpeted in certain circles as meaning that there's really nothing to worry about regarding the Greenland ice sheet, the authors made a point of noting (although not in this press release) that an additional source of mass loss needs to be identified in order to reconcile their results with the GRACE data (which do not show a reduction in mass loss for the same period).

First, the loss of mass in the Antarctic ice sheet is actually somewhat unexpected.

The relevant papers are [Velicogna and Wahr 2006 Measurements of time - variable gravity show mass loss in Antarctica Science 311, 1754 - 1756 and Rignot and Thomas «Mass balance of polar ice sheets» Science 297, 1502 - 1506]

[7] The IceCon project aims to gain a better understanding of the rate of the loss of ice — now and in the past - from the Antarctic ice sheet in the Dronning Maud Land area, and includes six partners: Université Libre de Bruxelles, Royal Observatory of Belgium, University of Luxembourg, Norwegian Polar Institute, and Aberystwyth University.

The team also compared the ice loss up until the mid-1980s to that observed by satellites over roughly the last decade and found that today the rate of ice loss is twice the 20th century average, mostly because of increased water runoff from the ice sheet's surface.

The reconstructed curve includes isolated rapid events of several decimetres within a few centuries, one of which is most likely related to loss from the Antarctic ice sheet mass around 5000 years before present.

The estimates of ice loss also helped them calculate the amount of sea level rise contributed by the ice sheet prior to 1990 — a number missing from the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report because of the lack of direct observations.

The information from the study helps improve scientists» understanding of the behavior of the ice sheet and what processes control the loss of ice, Beata Csatho, a geophysicist at the University of Buffalo in New York who was not involved with the work, said in a commentary published in the same issue of Nature.

His comments are based on the paper «Limits in detecting acceleration of ice sheet mass loss due to climate variability», B. Wouters, J. L. Bamber, M. R. van den Broeke, J. T. M. Lenaerts and I. Sasgen, Nature Geoscience 6, 613 — 616 (2013) doi: 10.1038 / ngeo1874 Find the abstract and illustrations for that paper here.

The majority of this ice loss — between 52 % and 83 % — originates from southeastern and northwestern regions of the ice sheet, says lead author

[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 warmer.

The rate of release from the tundra alone is predicted to reach 1.5 billion tons of carbon per annum before 2030, contributing to accelerated climate change, perhaps resulting in sustained decadal doubling of ice loss causing collapse of the Greenland Ice Sheet (Hansen et al, 201ice loss causing collapse of the Greenland Ice Sheet (Hansen et al, 201Ice Sheet (Hansen et al, 2011).

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.

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.

This feedback could potentially result in the rapid loss of parts of the ice sheet, as grounding lines retreat along troughs and basins that deepen towards the ice sheet's interior.

Pritchard HD, Ligtenberg SRM, Fricker HA, Vaughan DG, van den Broeke MR, Padman L. Antarctic ice - sheet loss driven by basal melting of ice shelves.