Grim Picture of Polar Ice-Sheet Loss

ananyo writes "A global team of researchers has come up with the most accurate estimate yet for melting of the polar ice sheets, ending decades of uncertainty about whether the sheets will melt further or actually gain mass in the face of climate change. The ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are melting at an ever-quickening pace. Since 1992, they have contributed 11 millimeters — or one-fifth — of the total global sea-level rise, say the researchers. The two polar regions are now losing mass three times faster than they were 20 years ago, with Greenland alone now shedding ice at about five times the rate observed in the early 1990s. This latest estimate, published this week in Science, draws on up to 32 years of ice-sheet simulations and 20 years of satellite data to give an estimate two to three times more accurate than that in the last IPCC report."

Comments

Re:Oh noes! 11 mm in 20 years!

[Anonymous Coward]

Your poor attempt at humor missed the point that the ice caps are losing mass three to five times faster than they were 20-ish years ago. Less ice at the poles means less sunlight reflected back into space, which means more heat retained on Earth, which means higher temperatures, faster ice melting, compounding the problem further. Not to mention more radically unpredictable weather. But no, go back into your cave, put on your tinfoil hat, and deny that physics are a thing.

'emmissions' and 'eruptions' are not the same

[Anonymous Coward]

Talk about apples and oranges. A "volcanic emmission" is a misleading way of saying non eruption emmissions. IE the amount of co2 that volcanoes emit when they just sit there quietly burbling. That in no way refutes the original statement which was comparing a volcanic ERUPTION to man made CO2.

Given the fact that 1 eruption can change global climate for several years, please don't lie through your teeth and mislead people into thinking they are insignificant compared to smokestacks and tail pipes. The climate of the planet doesn't change when people burn coal and oil to keep warm in the winter, nor when millions of people commute in rush hour.