The loss of ice mass in the Greenland ice cap is occurring further inland than previously thought and this is likely to exacerbate sea level rise, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Until now, scientists have focused mainly on melting the coastal strips of the ice cap, but this time they’ve researched what’s going on inside the island with satellite data, GPS ground stations and digital models.
The discovery they made is alarming: the gigantic block of ice, also called “inlandsis”, that covers the territory of Greenland, is losing thickness at a distance of 200 to 300 km from the coast.
The results affect the Northest Greenland Ice Stream (NEGSI), a northeastern part of the “inlandsis”, which accounts for 12% of the ice cap, but this phenomenon would likely be occurring across Greenland and also on Earth’s other ice cap, Antarctica, according to the authors.
Scientists estimate that sea levels could rise by between 13.5 and 15.5 millimeters by the end of the century.
In a report released in 2021, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) considered that the Greenland ice cap could contribute up to 18 centimeters to sea level rise around 2100, but this in a scenario of higher emissions. of greenhouse gases.
The Greenland ice cap is currently the main driver of sea level rise, according to NASA, as the Arctic region is warming faster than the rest of the world.
“NEGIS could lose six times more ice than estimated by existing climate models,” the report warned.
One of the reasons for the ice cap to lose thickness in its interior is the entry of warm ocean currents.
“The new model truly gives an account of what is happening inside the lands, the [modelos] previous ones don’t […] We are facing a massive shift, a completely different sea level projection,” lead study author Shafaqat Abbas Khan told AFP.
According to him, it is practically impossible to reverse the loss of ice mass from the Greenland ice cap, but it is possible to contain it with adequate policies against climate change.
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