A massive ice sheet in Greenland is set to raise global sea levels around a foot by the end of this century, according to a study published on Monday. This will happen as a result of melting event driven by human-caused climate change.
The studies showcase in the Journal Nature Climate Change that 3.3 percent of Greenland’s ice sheet will melt. This is equivalent to 110 trillion metric tons of ice. The ice loss will prompt about 10 inches of sea level rise between now and 2100.
Scientists warned that melting is unavoidable even if the world immediately stops emitting greenhouse gases that warm up the planet. According to the study’s forecast of a minimum of 10 inches of sea level rise is more than twice as much sea level rise as researchers have previously predicted from the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet.
This is considered as the second biggest ice sheet in the world behind the one in the Antarctic and covers 80 percent of the island. There were suggestions by earlier informed that if all of the ice sheet were to melt, global sea levels could rise by as much as 23 feet.
The study was done by using satellite measurements of ice losses from Greenland and the shape of the ice cap between 2000 and 2019. The study also conducted by Scientists located in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.S..
The researchers evaluated the ratio of replenishment from snowfall to loss from melting ice in Greenland, and concluded that 3.3 percent of Greenland’s total ice volume will melt by the end of the century, no matter how promptly the world curbs carbon emissions.
Climate change due to burn of fossil fuels has caused longer summers in Greenland and speeded up the retreat of glaciers and the island country’s ice cap.
A one-foot rise in global sea levels would have major impacts for coastal communities. As sea level rise threatens to displace almost 200 million people by the end of the century. In the U.S., coastal residents represent 40 percent of the total U.S. population and $7.9 trillion in gross domestic product, according to a statement of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
