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Paris (AFP) – The thinning of Greenland’s ice cap is occurring further inland than previously thought and this will likely exacerbate sea level rise, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Until now, scientists had focused mainly on the melting of the coastal fringes of the ice cap, but this time they investigated what is happening in the interior of the island, using satellite data, GPS ground stations and digital modelling.
The discovery they made is alarming: the giant ice block, also called “Inlandsis”, which covers the territory of Greenland, is thinning between 200 and 300 km from the coast.
The results affect the Northest Greenland Ice Stream (NEGSI), a northeast section of the ‘Inlandsis’ that represents 12% of the cap, but this phenomenon is probably being recorded throughout Greenland and also in the other polar cap of the Earth, in Antarctica, according to the authors.
Scientists estimate that sea level could rise between 13.5 and 15.5 millimeters by the end of the century.
In a report released in 2021, the UN Panel of Experts on Climate Change (IPCC) considered that Greenland’s ice cap could contribute up to 18 centimeters to sea level rise by 2100but that within a scenario of higher greenhouse gas emissions.
With the right policies, the thinning of the polar ice cap could be slowed down
Greenland’s ice cap is currently the main driver of ocean growth, according to NASA, as the Arctic region is warming faster than the rest of the world.
“NEGIS could lose six times more ice than existing climate models estimate,” the report warns.
One of the reasons that the cap is thinning inside is the intrusion of warm ocean currents.
“The new model truly accounts for what is happening in the interior of the earth, the previous (models) do not (…) we are facing a massive change, a completely different projection of sea level”, explained the main author of the study, Shafaqat Abbas Khan, to AFP.
According to the expert, it is practically impossible to reverse the thinning of the Greenland polar cap, but it can be slowed down with adequate policies against climate change.
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