Dr. Paul Bierman, Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Vermont, summarized his recent paper on ancient soil remains from an ice core taken at Summit Station, at nearly the highest point of the ice sheet (3 kilometers of ice). Fossils in the sediment reveal that this site was ice-free in Earth’s not-so-distant past, meaning that at least 90% of the ice sheet had melted. These findings raise the alarm that Greenland’s ice, which holds about 7 meters total sea-level rise, almost completely disappeared under past climate conditions with CO2 concentrations well below current levels.
Full paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2407465121
Video recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAIG8-R4hWA
By Emily Jacobson, Science Writing Intern; Amy Imdieke, Global Outreach Director; and Pam Pearson, Director of ICCI.
Published Sep. 23, 2024 Updated Sep. 23, 2024 3:28 pm
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