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2026-09-17 14:30:10
【Ice Cap Crisis: 12.5 Trillion Tons of Melting Ice Pushes Up Sea Levels, Greenland and Antarctica Disappear at an Accelerated Rate】 1) A study published Wednesday in Science Data shows that approximately 12.5 trillion tons of ice have melted in Greenland and Antarctica since 1979, enough to cover the continental United States by 5 feet. (2) Global warming is accelerating the melting of the two major ice caps, with five-sixths of the melting coming from warmer seawater eroding the ice caps from below and the sides, rather than from warmer air; the study authors say this is bad news for future sea level rise. (3) Nearly 30 quadrillion gallons of meltwater have caused global sea levels to rise by about 1 inch since 1979, along with other climate factors pushing up ocean levels. For every centimeter the sea level rises, at least 2 to 3 million more people will be flooded at least once a year; the Jacob Harbour Glacier in Greenland is retreating by up to 164 feet per day. (4) The team incorporated NASA data to trace the volume of the Antarctic ice cap back to 1979 and Greenland's back to 1972. The ice sheet was relatively stable from the 1970s to the 1990s, but melted at an accelerated pace in the 2010s; the pause from 2020 to 2023 reflected more short-term weather than long-term trends, and the accelerating trend has since resumed. (5) Record snowfall in East Antarctica compensated for the rapid melting of the less stable West Antarctic ice sheet. Scientists are most concerned about dynamic processes, which are more sudden than slow melting caused by air and are more likely to trigger an out-of-control "critical point"; Holland, an ice scientist at New York University, said that most of the ice loss is dynamic and consistent with the scenario of unstable ice sheet collapse. (6) The study used 45 independent surveys and 27 satellites. Skambas, an ice scientist at the University of Colorado who was not involved in the study, said that Antarctic mass loss is a clear and real danger, but it will only become apparent in the coming decades; society is smart enough to know the future, but not prudent enough to act.
