Greenland’s melting ice could end up contributing to rising sea levels much more than had earlier been predicted, according to a new study from the University of Leeds’ School of Earth and Environment.
Researchers now believe that a side-effect of global warming that was previously overlooked could speed up the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet.
The vast sheet of ice covers 1.7 million square kilometres. If all that ice wound up melting into the sea, global sea levels would rise by up to six metres, which would pose a major risk to many coastal communities.
Although such a catastrophe is highly unlikely, ice losses from the sheet are forecast to contribute towards global sea levels rising by 22 centimetres by 2100. However, the new discoveries, which concern the lakes formed by the melted snow and ice, indicate that the estimate could be far too low.