



Greenland ice sheet more sensitive to warming



The ice sheet may lose its ability to grow once warming reaches 1.6 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times, according to a study today in Nature Climate Change. That's below the previous best estimate of 3.1 degrees, the scientists at Madrid's Complutense University and Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research found.

"We might already be approaching the critical threshold," Alexander Robinson, the paper's lead author and an academic affiliated with both institutions, said in an emailed statement. "The more we exceed the threshold, the faster it melts."

The United Nations estimates the Greenland ice sheet contains enough water to raise global sea levels by about seven metres, threatening coastal cities from New York to London and Bangkok. Even so, the researchers said it could take thousands of years for the entire sheet to melt.


With 2 degrees of warming, it would take 50,000 years to melt the ice sheet, the scientists said. At 4 degrees, the time frame decreases to 8000 years, and at 8 degrees, it's 2000 years.


They factored in the effects of melting of the 3000-metre thick ice sheet below certain altitude thresholds, which makes refreezing less likely, even with a return to previous temperatures. They also included the warming effect caused by exposure of dark land and sea areas that absorb more light rather than reflect it, as ice does.


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