Water displacement mechanism adds up to 30% to sea level rise

The report presents new calculations of the so-called water displacement mechanism. This happens when

solid rock of the West AntarcticThe ice sheet bounces upward as the ice melts, reducing the overall weight of the ice sheet. The bedrock is below sea level, so when it rises, it pushes water from the environment into the ocean, contributing to global sea level rise.

New projections suggest that if the ice sheet collapses completely, estimates of global sea level rise would increase another meter over 1,000 years.

“The scale of the effect shocked us.Previous studies that have looked at the mechanism have dismissed it as not significant. If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses, the most commonly cited estimate for the resulting global mean sea level rise would be 3.2 meters. We showed that this mechanism adds 30% to the total."

Linda Pan, GSAS

But this is not just a story about the impact that will befelt in hundreds of years. One simulation has shown that by the end of this century, global sea level rise caused by the melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet will increase by 30% through water displacement.

Each level rise forecast publisheddue to the melting ice sheet of West Antarctica, based on climate modeling, whether the forecast extends to the end of this century or beyond, will need to be revised upwards.

The researchers wanted to study how the mechanismexpulsion influenced sea level change when viewed from the low viscosity or free flowing material of the Earth's mantle beneath West Antarctica. When they incorporated this low viscosity into their calculations, they realized that water displacement was happening much faster than previous models predicted.

"No matter what scenario weused to collapse the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, we always found that that extra one meter of global sea level rise always appeared.” 

Family NameLinda Pan, GSASlia

The researchers hope that their calculationsshow that to accurately assess global sea level rise associated with melting ice sheets, scientists need to consider both the displacement effect and the low viscosity of the mantle beneath Antarctica.

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