Nature Climate Change, August 31 The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have increased global sea level by 12.3 mm from 2007 and 2017, matching the most pessimistic predictions of the IPCC’s most recent assessment report (AR5). In particular, this study indicated that current models underestimate the contribution of ice sheet surface melt. The comparison […]
The Cryosphere Discussion/Review, August 14 A paper placed in open review notes that the cryosphere globally has lost a total of 28 trillion tonnes of ice (28,000 Gt) in the past 23 years, with a significant acceleration of mass loss since the year 2000. The largest losses have occurred to (in approximate order) Arctic sea […]
Nature, August 19 For the first time, researchers have been able to close the “sea-level budget” (relative sources of sea-level rise), gaining new insights on the drivers of observed global mean sea-level rise over the past century. By re-examining the contributions of glaciers, ice sheets, thermal expansion, and land water storage, this study was able […]
Nature Communications, August 24 The floating Shirase Ice Tongue (a long and narrow projection of ice, connected an ice basin about the size of the United Kingdom) in Queen Maud Land, East Antarctica, has revealed surprisingly high basal melt rates of 7 to 16 m per year. These rates equal or surpass the melting rate underneath […]
Nature, August 20 The Greenland Ice Sheet lost a record-breaking 532 (± 58 Gt) of ice in 2019, up around 200 Gt in the early 2000s, when it first became clear that the ice sheet was losing mass. The two GRACE satellite missions also provided new insights on the sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to climate-related changes in […]
Nature, Communications Earth & Environment, August 13 Acceleration of outlet glaciers from the Greenland ice sheet, not compensated by accumulation above makes it the current largest contributor to sea level rise. Through the 1980s and 1990s, losses through iceberg calving and melting were replaced by snowfall, keeping the ice sheet in balance. However, starting in […]
Nature Geoscience, August 10 Between 1994 and 2018, Antarctic ice shelves (floating ice connected to the land-based Antarctic ice sheet) lost close to 3960 Gt of ice. Many ice shelves bordering Antarctica lose mass through ocean-driven melting at their base. This study builds on previous work by using higher density satellite radar measurements, enabling far […]
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, August 10 Under high emissions scenarios, northern hemisphere permafrost and peatlands will show a 30-50% greater contribution to warming than previously projected, with emissions impacts equivalent to 1% of all anthropogenic radiative forcing this century – and this takes into account both peatland carbon uptake and permafrost thaw […]
Nature Climate Change, August 10 The Arctic Ocean could be seasonally ice-free at temperatures only slightly above today’s, once land-based Arctic summer temperatures average 4 to 5°C above pre-industrial. This would occur by summer 2035 under high emissions scenarios; parts of the Arctic were already far warmer this summer. These new simulations using CMIP6, by […]
Nature Geoscience, August 3 An updated approach is required to estimate the melting of global glaciers due to rock debris partially insulating the glaciers’ surface. As glaciers shrink, eroded rock from surrounding mountain slopes becomes exposed and slides down, forming a layer on the surface of glaciers which, if thick enough, reduces the rate at […]
Nature Climate Change, August 3 In New Zealand’s Southern Alps, anthropogenic forcing has made extreme loss of glacier ice at least 6 times more likely to occur in 2011 and 10 times in 2018 (>90% confidence). These were two of the highest mass-loss years ever recorded in that region. This increased likelihood is driven by […]
Water and Ice Research Laboratory, August 7 This extremely warm summer is driving some dramatic collapses: one of the last remaining Canadian Ice Shelves, the Milne Ice Shelf lost 43% of its area (80 km2, greater than the size of Manhattan) in a dramatic collapse on July 31st, compromising nearby ecosystems as well as threatening […]
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, August 3 Despite recent progress on bending the emissions curve and the global pandemic, cumulative CO2 emissions measured between 2005 and 2020 place us on track (within 1%) of RCP8.5, the most aggressive scenario in assumed fossil fuel use. Between 2030 and 2050, human CO2 emissions will likely […]
加拿大地理学家，7月16日 户外滑冰是许多北部地区重要的文化娱乐活动，并在北美身份认同中占有重要地位。研究人员利用在美国和加拿大六个城市收集的公民科学数据，估算了过去冬季不存在历史观测数据的后院滑冰条件。他们发现 […]
科学，7月10日 北冰洋浮游植物生物量在1998年至2018年间增加了57%%。食物链底端生物量的激增部分是由于北极海冰的退缩以及邻近海洋新营养物质的涌入。未来，欧洲和……