Exploration: Greenland ice sheet melted to the point of no return

The Greenland Ice Sheet dumps more than 280 billion metric tons of ice into the ocean each year—a major

the reason that the level of the world's oceansis getting higher every year. However, according to observations by scientists from Ohio State University, in recent years, ice loss has been so significant that it has caused noticeable changes in Greenland's gravitational field.

Melting ice in Greenland is already contributingmore than a millimeter of sea level rise every year. Scientists predict that by the end of the century the ocean level will rise by almost a meter. The coastal states of the United States and the island states that are nearby are under threat. 40% of the US population lives in areas that will become dangerous in the future.

“The ice sheet is now in a new dynamiccondition. Even if we returned to the climate that was 20 or 30 years ago, the glacier would have lost a huge amount of its mass. This process can no longer be reversed "

Ian Haught, co-author of the study and professor at The Ohio State University

However, the researchers added that it was not theirs.worst forecast. They noted that humanity "has passed the point of no return, but this event will have many consequences." In the near future, researchers will observe a calmer ice sheet, but in the near future we will move on to the "phase of rapid melting".

To track changes in ice coverGreenland scientists have used satellite data for the past 40 years. They found that after 2000, the ice sheet was shrinking so quickly that new snow cover had no time to accumulate. This is what caused the cover in the future to only shrink.

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