The discovered ice loss in the northeast -- which has been largely overlooked to date -- is worrisome because the drainage basin there covers 16 percent of the ice sheet and holds the capability of funneling ice deep from Greenlands interior out to sea, the scientists said...Ice loss from northeast Greenland into the Fram Strait abutting the Arctic Ocean is now closer to 15 to 20 metric gigatons a year and is still increasing, said Khan. In comparison, it took the Jakobshavn Isbræ ice stream -- a southwest Greenland region with a fast-moving glacier that has been a focal point of scientific examination of ice sheet melt -- 150 years to retreat 35 kilometers, said Khan. We havent seen something like this anywhere else, Khan said about the northeast scientificamerican/article/newly-discovered-greenland-melting-could-accelerate-sea-level-rise/
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 04:04:51 +0000