Over the past 55 years - from 1961 to 2016 - glaciers around the world have lost more than 9 trillion tons of ice. The most serious blow
Computer simulations have shown that meltingGreenland's ice cover will lead to an increase in sea level over the next 200 years by 160 cm - whereas earlier climatologists predicted an increase of 88.9 cm.
Having access to satellite observations, weable to fix the surface speed of the entire Greenland ice sheet and see how this ice is melting. We realized that the surface of some large glaciers is melting very quickly - several orders of magnitude faster than their interior.
Andy Aschwanden, lead author of the study
“Having gained access to satellite observations, wewere able to record the surface velocity of the entire Greenland ice sheet and see how that ice was melting. We realized that the surface of some large glaciers is melting very quickly—several orders of magnitude faster than their interior.”
Previously, scientists from the University of California found that the Greenland ice sheet has decreased sixfold since the 1980s, while the rate of ice loss has increased from 50 to 286 billion tons per year.