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 the early 2000s, the retreat and acceleration of these glaciers surpassed gains through snow accumulation, making the ice sheet lose 14% more mass annually (60 Gt on average) than was replenished by snow. The authors conclude that these large glaciers will continue retreating for some time, even should temperatures stabilize at today’s levels; but the speed at which this loss continues directly depends on how rapidly our air and oceans continue warming.
http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-0001-2
Compiled by Amy Imedieke
Dear Friends of the Cryosphere Pavilion and Cryosphere Capsule Readers! We are happy to announce…
Nature Communications, 21 July 2026 Rising sea levels driven by ocean warming and ice sheet…
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 26 June 2026 East Antarctica has long been considered less…
Geophysical Research Letters, 9 July 2026 Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is the cold, dense water…
PNAS, 20 July 2026 After several years in the early 2020s when Arctic winter sea…
Nature Communications, 16 July 2026 Temporarily exceeding global warming targets increases the risk of long-lasting…