Category: Glaciers

Study: Greenland Ice Sheet on Brink of Major Tipping Point

9/8/2021

A significant part of the Greenland ice sheet is on the brink of a tipping point, after which accelerated melting would become inevitable even if global heating was halted, according to new research. Rising temperatures caused by the climate crisis have already seen trillions of tonnes of Greenland’s ice pour into the ocean. Melting its ice sheet completely would eventually raise global sea level by 7 metres. The new analysis detected the warning signals of a tipping point in a 140-year record of ice-sheet height and melting rates in the Jakobshavn basin, one of the five biggest basins in Greenland and the fastest-melting. The prime suspect for a surge in melting is a vicious circle in which melting reduces the height of the ice sheet, exposing it to the warmer air found at lower altitudes, which causes further melting. - Guardian

Stronger Evidence of Slowing Atlantic Circulation - Climate ‘Achilles’ Heel’

2/27/2021

A growing body of evidence suggests that a massive change is underway in the sensitive circulation system of the Atlantic Ocean, a group of scientists said Thursday. The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), a system of currents that includes the Florida Current and the Gulf Stream, is now “in its weakest state in over a millennium,” these experts say. This has implications for everything from the climate of Europe to the rates of sea-level rise along the U.S. East Coast. Although evidence of the system’s weakening has been published before, the new research cites 11 sources of “proxy” evidence of the circulation’s strength, including clues hidden in seafloor mud as well as patterns of ocean temperatures. The enormous flow has been directly measured only since 2004, too short a period to definitively establish a trend, which makes these indirect measures critical for understanding its behavior. - Washington Post

Scores Are Feared Dead In India After Himalayan Glacier Breaks Away

2/7/2021

A massive search-and-rescue operation was underway Sunday in northern India for at least 140 people missing after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off, triggering an avalanche of rock, mud, water and debris that swept away a hydroelectric dam. Video showed a torrent of water and debris breaking through a dam that's part of the Rishiganga Hydroelectric Project, more than 300 miles north of New Delhi. "It came very fast. There was no time to alert anyone. I felt that even we would be swept away." Many of those missing are believed to be workers at the dam. Police say that nine bodies have been recovered so far and that at least 140 people are missing. The chief minister of India's Uttarakhand state, Trivendra Singh Rawat, told reporters that the figure could rise. - NPR

Related video from Sky.

Study: Greenland Ice Sheet on Brink of Major Tipping Point

Stronger Evidence of Slowing Atlantic Circulation - Climate ‘Achilles’ Heel’

Scores Are Feared Dead In India After Himalayan Glacier Breaks Away

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