Greenland - Polar ice melt concern
December 2, 2012, Sunday
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FUELED by global warming, polar ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are now melting three times faster than they did in the 1990s, a new scientific study said this week.
So far, that's only added about 1.3 centimeters to rising sea levels, not as bad as some worst-case scenarios. But the melting's quicker pace, especially in Greenland, has ice scientists worried.
Until now, researchers haven't agreed on how fast the mile-thick sheets are thawing - and if Antarctica was even losing ice. The new research concludes that Antarctica is melting, but points to the smaller ice sheet in Greenland as the more pressing issue. Its melt rate has grown from about 55 billion tons a year in the 1990s to almost 290 billion tons a year recently, said the study.
So far, that's only added about 1.3 centimeters to rising sea levels, not as bad as some worst-case scenarios. But the melting's quicker pace, especially in Greenland, has ice scientists worried.
Until now, researchers haven't agreed on how fast the mile-thick sheets are thawing - and if Antarctica was even losing ice. The new research concludes that Antarctica is melting, but points to the smaller ice sheet in Greenland as the more pressing issue. Its melt rate has grown from about 55 billion tons a year in the 1990s to almost 290 billion tons a year recently, said the study.
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