Researchers found that the North Greenland Ice Shelf has lost more than a third of its volume since 1978, primarily due to rising ocean temperatures. This loss threatens the ice shelves' role as natural barriers that prevent ice from flowing into the ocean, potentially accelerating sea level rise.
North Greenland's largest floating ice shelf has lost more than a third of its volume since 1978, largely due to rising ocean temperatures, a new study shows. This melting poses a risk to their critical role in limiting the flow of ice into the ocean, thereby affecting sea level rise.
The volume of the largest floating ice shelves in the polar ice sheets has decreased by more than a third since 1978. In a study published on November 7 in the journal Nature Communications, scientists from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), together with colleagues from Denmark and the United States, determined that much of the ice shelf thinning is due to rising temperatures in the surrounding ocean, causing the floating extensions of the glacier to melt. Until then, glaciers in this area had been considered stable, unlike more sensitive areas of the polar ice cap, which began to weaken in the mid-1980s.
Located in northern Greenland, these ice shelves play a vital role in regulating the amount of ice discharged into the ocean by acting as giant frozen "dams." Although Greenland is already responsible for 17% of current sea level rise, any weakening of these barriers could lead to an increase in the amount of ice being released, accelerating further rises in water levels.
The results were derived from field observations, aerial photography and satellite data, combined with regional climate models.