EAST COAST SHOCK

Global Warming Causes Greenland Ice Sheet to Melt, Scientists Worry About Future Sea Level.

As future global warming threatens the earth, a main concern is the polar region.  As the annual temperature increases each year due to a gradual increase in greenhouse gas concentration, the rate at which the ice is melting is faster than the rate of snow falling.  One would think, ‘well, if I don’t live in the polar region, this really won’t affect me’, but in reality, the melting of the ice sheets in the north greatly affects the sea level on the east coast of the United States and other countries along the North Atlantic Ocean.  One of the main ice sheets is Greenland, the second largest in the world.  Research shows that if Greenland’s average temperature rises by up to three degrees Celsius, over the next 1,000 years, the sea level could increase by seven meters. (Gregory, Huybrechts, and Raper 428)

            Greenland’s ice sheet has been melting faster in the summer months in the last eleven years than expected.  As the top of the ice sheet melts, it thins out, bringing water to the coast.  A study done in Colorado has shown that over the last twenty-one years, the ice sheet surface has been melting at an increased rate of twenty percent. (“Greenland ice sheet flows faster during summer melting”)

            Because of global warming, the process of the interior ice build up moving towards the coast in the form of glaciers, and then melting in the summer months, has been steadily increasing in the last couple of decades.  A fear that people have is that, along with other Arctic ice melting, Greenland’s contribution to sea-level could cause such places as New York and other low-lying cities on the east coast to be flooded, which in turn causes millions of people to more towards the center of the United States.  According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the sea level could rise by over a foot by the year 2100, which is closer than it may seem, and that’s only including one of the factors – the melting of ice-sheets.  One scientist even predicts that in the next 100 years, the sea level could increase by three feet! (“Greenland's ice sheet melts as temperatures rise”)

As the surface air temperature rises, Greenland is dumping more and more ice into the ocean due to the rate at which the glaciers are moving.  This is another factor that Greenland contributes to the sea level.  According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, there is a “…concern that the models now used to predict Greenland's ice loss and contribution to sea level rise are inadequate because they do not account for changes in the speed of outlet glaciers that flow into the sea,” and that, “recent increases in glacier speed on Greenland are responsible for more than two-thirds of Greenland's contribution to sea level rise.”  AAAS’s main concern is not just on the rise of the sea level because of the melting, but also, the increase in glacier flow in the Atlantic Ocean.  They feel that with the increase in temperature, there is an increase in the speed of the glaciers.  From 1996 – 2005, there was a rise of 100 cubic-kilometers in ice loss-per-year for Greenland due to the accelerated speed of glaciers.  One of AAAS’s study’s has found that in the Northwest and Southeast portions of Greenland, there is more snow buildup, which leads to more ice dumping into the ocean, so they feel it is important to keep track of how much snow accumulates in those parts of Greenland. (Kane)

Greenland’s ice-sheet melting could not only affect the sea level, but it could also change the temperature in Western Europe.  Greenland now supplies about ten percent of the world’s fresh water, and according to a study done by the NASA, “…the amount of fresh water flowing from its meltdown could add 0.56 millimeters annually to a global increase in sea levels”.  Seeing as fresh water is more buoyant than salt water, the fresh water could enter into the Norwegian Current (which flows along Norway in the North Atlantic), and could greatly change the climate in Europe. (“Greenland’s ice sheet meltdown accelerates”)

The combination of Greenland’s ice-sheet melting and glacier increase into the ocean is causing scientists to question how much this will affect us in the future.  With the temperature of the Earth increasing each year as a result of global warming, citizens need to be aware of the possibility of an increased sea level in the future.

Bibliography

(2002, June, 6). Greenland ice sheet flows faster during summer melting. Goddard Space Flight Center, Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020606greenland.html

(2006, August, 11). Greenland’s ice sheet meltdown accelerates. U.S. Department of State, Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=August&x=20060811160016cmretrop2.357119e-02

(2007, October, 24). Greenland's ice sheet melts as temperatures rise. Lightblueline. CNN. Retrieved December 1, 2007, from http://www.lightblueline.org/node/291

Gregory, J.M., Huybrechts, P, & Raper, S.C.B. Climatology: Threatened loss of the Greenland ice sheet. Nature, 428, Retrieved November 17, 2007.

Kane, D.B. (2006, February, 16). New study in Science warns of Greenland’s accelerating glaciers. AAAS, Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/0216ice.shtml