No telling what will happen to US climate science under a new regime of lawless, oil funded oligarchs, so we may want to pay attention to the high quality data and images that the European Space Agency is giving us.
A disturbing new video shows 13 years of melt at the Greenland Ice Sheet. The video was stitched together based on NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) satellite data.
The video reveals how the edges of the ice sheet are melting more rapidly than the center, particularly at spots where glaciers flow into the sea. The new research finds that between 2010 and 2023, Greenland lost 563 cubic miles (2,347 cubic kilometers) of ice, which is enough to fill Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake. The Greenland Ice Sheet has been losing mass since 1998, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and it’s currently the second-biggest contributor to sea level rise after the expansion of water that occurs due to warming temperatures.
The research, published Dec. 20 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, wasn’t just about quantifying ice loss, though. Both NASA and ESA have satellites keeping a close eye on the region. ESA’s CryoSat-2 uses radar to measure the height of Earth’s surface, while NASA’s ICESat-2 uses laser measurements. Both methods have pros and cons, and researchers wanted to be sure the two measurements returned similar results and could be combined for greater accuracy.
Geophysical Research Letters – Greenland Ice Sheet Elevation Change From CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2:
Abstract
Although fluctuations in ice sheet surface mass balance lead to seasonal and interannual elevation changes, it is unclear if they are resolved differently by radar and laser satellite altimeters. We compare methods of computing elevation change from CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 over the Greenland Ice Sheet to assess their consistency and to quantify recent change. Solutions exist such that interannual trends in the interior and the ablation zone agree to within −0.2 ± 1.5 and 3.3 ± 6.0 cm/yr, respectively, and that seasonal cycle amplitudes within the ablation zone agree to within 3.5 ± 38.0 cm. The agreement is best in the north where the measurements are relatively dense and worst in the southeast where the terrain is rugged. Using both missions, we estimate Greenland lost 196 ± 37 km3/yr of volume between 2010 and 2022 with an interannual variability of 129 km3/yr.
Key Points
- Greenland Ice Sheet elevation change between 2018 and 2022 from CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 was −11.4 ± 0.8 and −11.7 ± 1.3 cm/yr, respectively
- Ablation zone seasonal cycle amplitude between 2018 and 2022 from CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 was 62.9 ± 26.5 and 59.4 ± 24.4 cm, respectively
- Volume change between 2010 and 2022 was −196 ± 37 km3/yr with an interannual variability of 129 km3/yr
Plain Language Summary
The polar ice sheets are reacting to climate warming. Changes in their height can be used to study changes in their snowfall, surface melting, glacier flow, and sea level contribution. Although satellite altimeters are able to detect changes in ice sheet height, it is not clear whether these changes are sensed differently by laser and radar systems. Using four years of coincident measurements recorded by ESA’s CryoSat-2 and NASA’s ICESat-2, we show that radar-laser differences at the ice sheet scale are, in fact, a small proportion (<10%) of the changes in height that are taking place. This means that either system can be used with confidence to study the effects of climate change on the polar ice sheets. At smaller spatial scales, the remaining differences are still important and should be investigated further so that we can understand their causes.
Real science. Thanks.
Watching Icelandic volcano videos all morning and wondering if displacing the weight of the water from the Greenland mountain-tops to bottom of the Atlantic seafloor had anything to do with the two brand volcanoes that popped up in Iceland this week. Also wonder the same about Antarctica and the “Third Pole”, the Himalayas and increased seismic and volcanic activity around the world
Some others seem to think so …
there has been some conversation about this, but I’m not aware of anyone drawing a specific causal relationship with a particular seismic or volcanic event. could have missed it.
I’ve seen one video out of that bunch of Icelanders that makes mention and a couple stories that seemed to be sourced there and nothing that addresses my question: is moving the water around ~ changing the weight displacement ~ on top of the tectonic plates disturbing the magma ~ the lava ~ the tectonic plates float on, causing earthquakes and volcanoes?
In general, it’s more about shifting loads on faults within the crust rather than all the way to the asthenosphere (“weak” rock layer below the lithospherethat is ~2% melt).
Continental crust sticks down into the asthenosphere roughly proportional to the weight above (e.g., the thickest crust right now is under the Himalayas). Whether from erosion (slow) or ice melt (much faster), areas of the crust bow back up as the weight is removed (isostatic rebound): Norway is still rising from the “rapid” melt-back of the last glaciation.
Iceland, being on a plate boundary, is already subjected to large shifts and instability across the Atlantic Ridge divide. Yes, it’s plausible that melting from global warming will change the weight/pressure around the volcanic, but note that Iceland is prone to rapid ice melt in spots due to the active volcanoes themselves.
Quite a lot of research by various institutions ongoing, to decompression effects on volcanic activity. Seems highly likely.
https://www.asiafinancial.com/could-melting-glaciers-trigger-volcanic-eruptions-reuters
“…which is enough to fill Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake.”
At least they aren’t doing it in “Olympic swimming pools,” but I’m not sure how many people even know there’s a Lake Victoria, but I guess those people wouldn’t be impressed by saying there’s been 63 millimeters of sea level rise since 2002 either.
Laugh out loud: and here it is, Scientific American,How Climate Change Could Trigger Earthquakes