We are already in territory that will melt catastrophic
portions of the polar ice sheets, and create havoc with weather extremes, agriculture, and infrastructure around the world in coming decades.
The report predicts that half of the world's identified tipping points — such as the
collapse of polar ice sheets and the drying out of the Amazon rainforest — would be crossed under 2 ℃ warming, compared with 20 % of them at 1.5 ℃.
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.
Prediction of mass
fluxes of polar ice sheets, improved models of glacial isostatic adjustment, and better modeling and prediction of sea - level change.
Evidence regarding the
response of polar ice sheets and sea level rise to rising temperatures is considered in the trial of carbon dioxide and co-conspirators.
Rather, it both offers a tool for exploring the sea level
implications of polar ice sheets» complex physical responses to global warming and highlights the deep uncertainty that characterizes sea level change in a high - emissions future.
Yet the climate science orthodoxy continues to push the catastrophic scenario that Earth's major coastal and island regions will be submerged due to the melting
of the polar ice sheets found in Antarctica.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report predicts that high concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (CO2) created by humans burning fossil fuels will cause catastrophic global warming, more intense storms, the
loss of polar ice sheets and rising sea levels.
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.
The tandem of satellites — called GRACE - 1 and GRACE - 2 — measure minute shifts in Earth's gravity to chart flows of mass across the planet, such as the unexpectedly rapid
melt of polar ice sheets and the drawdown of underground water reservoirs called aquifers.
«And we will even be able to make dynamic movements visible, such as the melting
of the polar ice sheets, which seismology could not see.»
Knowing the geoid's shape can aid studies of deeply buried geological structures and show how mass is being redistributed over time, such as by the melting
of polar ice sheets.
Atmospheric warming is followed by ocean warming is followed by a melting
of polar ice sheets is followed by sea level rise.
Rising Seas: Warmer ocean water temperatures, the pumping of ground water, and melting
of the polar ice sheets have added water to the oceans, contributing to sea level rise.
Only a new Little Ice Age, it says, might re-establish some of today's mountain glaciers or halt the melting
of polar ice sheets.