Scientists fear ice caps melting faster than predicted

[gulfcoastliberal]

Paul Brown in Ilulissat
Friday September 7, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

The Greenland ice cap is melting so quickly that it is triggering earthquakes as pieces of ice several cubic kilometres in size break off.

Scientists monitoring events this summer say the acceleration could be catastrophic in terms of sea-level rise and make predictions this February by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change far too low.

The glacier at Ilulissat, which supposedly spawned the iceberg that sank the Titantic, is now flowing three times faster into the sea than it was 10 years ago.

Article continues
Robert Correll, chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, said in Ilulissat today: "We have seen a massive acceleration of the speed with which these glaciers are moving into the sea. The ice is moving at two metres an hour on a front 5km <3 miles> long and 1,500 metres deep. That means that this one glacier puts enough fresh water into the sea in one year to provide drinking water for a city the size of London for a year."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2164776,00.html

[kestrel91316]

1. This is why we need to be VERY afraid:

".......We have seen a MASSIVE ACCELERATION of the speed with which these glaciers are moving into the sea.........."

[JuniperLea]

2. I don't think they took exponential heat into consideration

I think I remember initial numbers, and the rate never increased, which doesn't make sense. The hotter the atmosphere, the quicker the melt.