Greenland is known as the greatest contributor to increasing sea levels. However, a recent report investigates how more ice may be losing to the island's glaciers than traditionally predicted.
According to a report published Tuesday in Nature, the three main glaciers in Greenland are responsible for around 12 percent of the global ice sheet and contain enough ice to lift sea levels by about 1.3 meters, or around 4.3 metres.
Together between 1880 and 2012, the three glaciers already added around 8.1 millimeters or .32 inches to global sea levels, the study's authors said. To measure the volume of ice melted during that period, they used historical photos of Jakobshavn Isbræ, Kangerlussuaq and Helheim.
Unless substantial steps are taken to curb global greenhouse gas pollution, by the end of the century, climate change forecasts estimate that the Earth's temperature will increase 3.7 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial revolution temperatures.
Some Countries Fail To Follow Paris Agreement
According to NASA, the world's average temperature has risen a little more than 1 degree Celsius since 1880. The Paris Agreement aims to hold the rise below 2 degrees Celsius. Still, ABC News reported that scientists have calculated that the mixture of commitments from each participating country is insufficient to minimize the spike in temperature.
According to the report, the pace of ice loss in Greenland increased over the past decade. The simulations expect further acceleration over the coming decades. The study said that Jakobshavn Isbræ and Kangerlussuaq glaciers have passed through "periods of complex volatility" and are vulnerable to minor atmospheric variations or ocean warming. Scientists expect them to keep withdrawing and losing mass.
According to the report, sea levels rose worldwide by an average of 17 centimeters or around 6.7 inches in the 20th century owing to the melting of land-based ice mass, ocean thermal expansion and shifts in the storage of terrestrial water. By 2100, the amount could climb up to 2 meters or 6.56 feet.
A significant contributor to increasing sea levels is Greenland's ice cap, ABC News wrote in another report. According to a report funded by NASA and the European Space Agency and reported in Nature last year the melting could potentially expose up to 400 million citizens to floods by the end of the century.
Since unprecedented warming trends led the Greenland ice sheet to melt at near-record speeds, climate scientists told ABC News last year that warming events are becoming even more common. In September, in the deep northeastern Arctic, a slab of Greenland's ice cap covering 42.3 square miles fell off, providing scientists further proof of the accelerated pace at which the Earth's temperature is increasing.
Since 1999, The Associated Press estimated that the ice shelf has lost about 62 square miles, or twice the Manhattan size.
Such Pace Could Undermine How Much Ice Would Melt
While air and ocean temperatures were lower, the glaciers have already experienced significant ice declines, scientists claim their results may mean that simulations used to forecast future loss of ice in Greenland will underestimate how much could be lost by the end of the century.
This may also influence current sea level rise forecasts, according to a CNN report.
In certain low-lying coastal regions, rising waters are still creating issues. And for places like New York and Shanghai, a sea level increase of 1 meter or more might spell catastrophe. Another recent analysis found that rising waters by the end of the century might cost the global economy $14.2 trillion in missing or destroyed properties and expose as many as 287 million citizens, up from 171 million currently, to episodic flooding.
In the report, the researchers said that ice loss's potential underestimation is likely to be not confined to only these three glaciers. Current models needed to capture rapid glacial retreat due to human-induced ocean and atmospheric warming, "as they are the primary cause of mass loss."
The team hopes their findings on how glaciers are sensitive to changes in the climate will help increase the reliability of future projections of ice loss.
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