Greenland Glaciers Dump More Ice Into Ocean

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2006/feb/16/021606408.html

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Greenland's southern glaciers have accelerated their march to the Atlantic Ocean over the past decade and now contribute more to the global rise in sea levels than previously estimated, researchers say.

Those faster-moving glaciers, along with increased melting, could account for nearly 17 percent of the estimated one-tenth of an inch annual rise in global sea levels, or twice what was previously believed, said Eric Rignot of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

An increase in surface air temperatures appears to be causing the glaciers to flow faster, albeit at the still-glacial pace of eight miles to nine miles a year at their fastest clip, and dump increased volumes of ice into the Atlantic.

That stepped-up flow accounted for about two-thirds of the net 54 cubic miles of ice Greenland lost in 2005. That compares with 22 cubic miles in 1996, Rignot said.

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[hatrack]

1. Interesting article - Thanks, Jpak!

:toast:

[phantom power]

2. Earth's ocean surface area is 128 million square miles.

(54 cubic miles)/(128 million square miles) = 0.0267 inches added to sea level last year. That doesn't jibe with 0.017.

Fun fact: In order to raise sea level by an inch per year, about 2000 cubic miles of ice would have to melt each year. And it would have to be ice not already in the water. Such as Greenland's ice.