A new study shows that Greenland’s ice is melting faster than expected – with consequences for the entire planet. Rapidly melting ice sheets will raise sea levels across the planet by at least 27cm, more than double of what was previously predicted, reports AP News.
The ice that will affect the World Ocean is called zombie ice. Despite the fact that it is still attached to thicker areas, it is not replenished by the parent glaciers, and therefore such ice is doomed to melt. Due to climate change, it will inevitably raise the sea level.
“It’s dead ice. It’s just going to melt and disappear from the ice sheet. This ice has been consigned to the ocean, regardless of what climate (emissions) scenario we take now,” says a co-author of the study from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.
Previously, scientists claimed that the melting of the Greenland ice sheet would cause half as much sea level rise. Now the forecasts are changing. The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, claims that in a worst-case scenario, the level of the world’s oceans could rise to 78 centimeters.
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