Ohio State Study - Bulk Of Greenland Ice Loss To Date May Come From Smaller Glaciers

[hatrack]

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The recent dramatic melting and breakup of a few huge Greenland glaciers have fueled public concerns over the impact of global climate change, but that isn't the island's biggest problem. A new study shows that the dozens of much smaller outflow glaciers dotting Greenland's coast together account for three times more loss from the island's ice sheet than the amount coming from their huge relatives.

In a study just published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, scientists at Ohio State University reported that nearly 75 percent of the loss of Greenland ice can be traced back to small coastal glaciers. Ian Howat, an assistant professor of earth sciences and researcher with Ohio State's Byrd Polar Research Center, said their discovery came through combining the best from two remote sensing techniques. It provides perhaps the best estimate so far of the loss to Greenland's ice cap, he says.

EDIT

Howat and his colleagues concentrated on the southeastern region of Greenland, an area covering about one-fifth of the island's 656,373 square miles (1.7 million square kilometers). They found that while two of the largest glaciers in that area – Kangerdlugssuaq and Helheim – contribute more to the total ice loss than any other single glaciers, the 30 or so smaller glaciers there contributed 72 percent of the total ice lost.

"We were able to see for the first time that there is widespread thinning at the margin of the Greenland ice sheet throughout this region. We're talking about the region that is within 62 miles (100 kilometers) from the ice edge. That whole area is thinning rapidly," he said. Howat says that all of the glaciers are changing within just a few years and that the accelerated loss just spreads up deeper into the ice sheet.

EDIT

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-09/osu-sg-091508.php

[XemaSab]

1. Maybe they were larger glaciers and then they melted down

:think: