Climate Change: Alaska Glaciers May Contribute to Sea Level Rise in a Big Way

Alaska's glaciers may be contributing to sea level rise in a big way. Scientists have found that the glaciers are adding enough water to Earth's oceans to cover the state of Alaska with a 1-foot-thick layer of water every seven years.

"The Alaska region has long been considered a primary player in the global sea level budget, but the exact details on the drivers and mechanisms of Alaska glacier change have been stubbornly elusive," said Chris Larsen, one of the researchers, in a news release.

In this latest study, the researchers analyzed surveys of 116 glaciers in the Alaska region across 19 years in order to estimate ice loss from melting and iceberg calving. The scientists also collected airborne lidar altimetry data as part of NASA's operation IceBridge.

Mountain glaciers hold less than 1 percent of the Earth's glacial ice volume. The rest of this ice is held in ice sheets on Antarctica and Greenland. However, the rapid shrinking of mountain glaciers causes nearly one-third of current sea level rise.

"We've long wondered what the contribution of iceberg calving could be across the entire state," said Shad O'Neel, one of the researchers.

In this case, the researchers found that the contribution of tidewater glaciers to sea level rise is almost negligible. Instead, the glaciers on land are losing mass exceptionally fast and are overshadowing mass changes due to iceberg calving.

"This work has important implications for global sea level projections. With improved understanding of the processes responsible for Alaska glacier changes, models of the future response of these glaciers to climate can be improved," said Larsen. "Thinking about the future, it means that rates of loss from Alaska are unlikely to decline, since surface melt is the predominant driver, and summer temperatures are expected to continue to increase. There is a lot of momentum in the system, and Alaska will continue to be a major driver of global sea level change in upcoming decades."

The findings and published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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