'Faster and faster': Greenland ice sheet is melting at record

The melting of the Greenland ice sheet is already a major driver of sea level rise. But scientists have now confirmed that the region experienced record ice melt in 2019, breaking previous records with 532 billion tonnes of ice lost. Writes about it CBS News.

Photo: Shutterstock

The amount of ice that melted in 2019 more than doubled the annual average since 2003, when NASA satellites began to accurately record how much ice was melting, according to a recent study published in Communications Earth & Environment. Almost half was lost in July alone, during the historic heatwave that swept Europe.

The researchers compared satellite data with regional climate models to make calculations. Two satellite missions, GRACE and GRACE-FO, which track the Earth's gravity field, play a key role in observing the ice sheet.

The melting ice in Greenland is of serious concern to scientists: if it melted completely, it would raise the sea level by at least 20 feet (6 m). The previous record for melting ice in one year was 464 billion tons in 2012.

"The Greenland ice sheet is not just melting - it's melting faster and faster," said lead study author Ingo Sasgen, a geologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany.

Last year, melting water in Greenland increased global sea level by 0,06 inches (0,15 cm). Study co-author Alex Gardner, a NASA scientist, called the figure "huge" and "astounding."

Melting ice sheets and glaciers around the world, in addition to expanding oceans as they warm, are driving sea level rise, coastal flooding and extreme weather events around the world.

Scientists say 2017 and 2018 saw unusually low ice melt due to colder summers and more snowfall, but 2019 data shows a return to extremely high ice melting rates.

On the subject: Sun reduces activity: 30-year 'mini-ice age' awaits Earth

New satellite data take into account snowfall, which allows for a more accurate calculation of the rate of melting. Snowfall in 2019 was below average, a record high.

The researchers said many factors contributed to the increase in surface melting, including the most notable phenomenon they call “locking,” which traps warm air over a region for longer periods.

“After a two-year respite, ice loss increased sharply in 2019 and exceeded all annual losses since 1948 and likely more than 100 years,” Sasgen said. “Stable areas of high pressure are increasingly appearing above the ice cover, which contribute to the influx of warm air from mid-latitudes. We saw a similar pattern in the previous record year of 2012.”

The Arctic is warming up three times faster than the world average. A new study has shown that in just 15 years, the Arctic Ocean will be functionally ice-free for some part of the year as the ice disappears.

This is one of the toughest deadlines for reaching this threshold, and if true, it is one of the more direct signs that humans are changing the Earth's climate even more dramatically than expected.

“We see significant changes from year to year,” said Ingo Sasgen. “But the five highest ice loss years since 1948 have all occurred in the last decade.”

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