WHEN ICE MELTS: Research has shown that even if we limit CO2 emissions and meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement, the ice that covers most of Greenland will melt at record speeds. More and more icebergs are detaching from the massive glaciers from the inland ice. Photo: Heiko Junge
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Large parts of the Greenland ice sheet are in the process of entering an irreversible melting process, a new study shows. It may be impossible to turn around, warns researcher.
A significant part of the Greenland ice sheet is on the verge of a tipping point, shows a new study published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America).
Melting can be inevitable, even if global warming is stopped, shows studies.
The earth has lost 28 trillion tonnes of ice in less than 30 years, and we have already seen that the Greenland ice sheet melts at record speed.
Now, if it has not already happened, we are reaching a point where there is no going back.
– We may have passed the tipping point, but it is not certain. In any case, our results show that there will be significantly more melting in the near future, says Martin Rypdal at the Norwegian Arctic University, to The Guardian. Rypdal is one of the researchers behind the study.
—-Ammassalik, Greenland Drifting icebergs off Tasiilaq in East Greenland. Photo: Heiko Junge
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– Point of no return
A tipping point in the earth’s climate system is a mechanism that causes the climate to change from one stable state to another, if certain threshold values are exceeded by climate change.
It is scary with such tipping points, because you then cross a border where it becomes impossible to turn, Rypdal says to Dagbladet:
– Our results show that it is only a few years until we pass the tipping point for “the point of no return”, unless we have already passed it.
He continues:
– Therefore, it is high time that we are quick to reduce emissions of fossil fuels and take care of the ice cover and our climate. What we have seen over the last two years of research on observations from the Jakobshavn glacier is frightening.
This may not be the first time you have heard that the Greenland ice sheet has reached a tipping point:
In August 2020, several media reported that Greenland’s ice had already passed the “point of no return”. This was later rejected as misinterpreted research.
Scientists: Threat to existence
The world may have stepped over several climate tipping points, researchers warned in 2019 – who thought it was a threat to our entire existence.
The melting of the Greenland ice sheet will have very serious consequences for many, according to researchers:
As things stand today, the meltdown of Greenland alone will contribute to 100 million people annually experiencing flooding towards the end of this century, said Professor Andrew Shepherd at the University of Leeds in 2019.
Greenland has lost enough ice since 1992 to raise global sea levels by 10.6 millimeters. If the ice melting continues at the same rate, it will mean that 100 million people in coastal areas The world around us will experience annual floods towards the end of this century, according to a study by the research group Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (IMBIE).
– These are not unlikely events with negligible effects; they are happening now and will have devastating consequences for coastal communities, Shepherd said in 2019.
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