Greenland Ice Sheet: The Missing Link for Sea Level Rise is Finally Included

Scientists may be getting a better estimate of rising sea levels thanks to a better understanding of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Scientists have published their direct observations of the melting of the ice sheet during the last 110 years, which gives a much better estimate for sea level rise.

The fluctuating temperatures and their effect on the Greenland Ice Sheet during the 20^th century is often a highly debated matter. One reason for this is due to the lack of direct observations of the ice sheet from all of Greenland before 1992. This has made it difficult to estimate changes in both space and time during the earlier part of the twentieth century. Because of this, there's been no contribution from the Greenland Ice Sheet included in the global sea level budget before 1990 in the IPCC latest report.

"If we do not know the contribution from all the sources that have contributed towards global sea level rise, then it is difficult to predict future global sea levels," said Kristian K. Kjeldsen, the first author of the new paper, in a news release. "In our paper we have used direct observations to specify the mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet and thereby highlight its contribution to global sea level rise."

In this latest study, the researchers used old aerial photographs to examine the extent of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Together with present-day positions, the researchers mapped these features in three-dimension, in order to reconstruct the volume of former ice extent. This provided scientists with a new method to map the thinning and mass balance of the glaciers.

"Our understanding of the behavior of the Greenland ice sheet over the last century is greatly increased, and we see that the average mass loss rate over the past decade is much larger than at any other time over the last 115 years," said Shfaqat Abbas Khan, co-author of the new study.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.

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