'Zombie ice' to raise ocean levels

Icebergs and light snowfall are seen from NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) research aircraft near the west coast on September 7, 2021 above Greenland. The NASA Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) campaign is wrapping up a six-year mission studying the ocean and glaciers along Greenland’s 24,000 mile remote coastline with airborne and shipborne instruments- data which cannot be captured by satellite. Each summer, OMG releases around 250 ocean probes from a modified DC-3 aircraft into the ocean to monitor the temperature and salinity of Atlantic subsurface waters around Greenland. According to NASA, the goal of the mission is ‘to figure out how much of Greenland’s ice melt is caused by warming oceans.’ Greenland’s massive ice sheet holds enough water to raise sea levels by around 25 feet worldwide. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Icebergs and light snowfall are seen from NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) research aircraft near the west coast on September 7, 2021 above Greenland. The NASA Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) campaign is wrapping up a six-year mission studying the ocean and glaciers along Greenland’s 24,000 mile remote coastline with airborne and shipborne instruments- data which cannot be captured by satellite. Each summer, OMG releases around 250 ocean probes from a modified DC-3 aircraft into the ocean to monitor the temperature and salinity of Atlantic subsurface waters around Greenland. According to NASA, the goal of the mission is ‘to figure out how much of Greenland’s ice melt is caused by warming oceans.’ Greenland’s massive ice sheet holds enough water to raise sea levels by around 25 feet worldwide. Photo credit (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
By , Audacy

Ghostly hunks of ice clinging to thicker parts of Greenland’s ice sheet are expected to contribute to a 10.6-inch rise in ocean levels, according to a study published Monday in the Nature Climate Change journal.

William Colgan, a glaciologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland and an author of the study, called this ice “dead ice,” in a recent interview with the Associated Press. The outlet referred to it as “zombie ice.”

Podcast Episode
KYW Newsradio In Depth
Doomsday Scenarios, ep. 2: The glacier actually nicknamed 'Doomsday'
Listen Now
Now Playing
Now Playing

“It’s dead ice. It’s just going to melt and disappear from the ice sheet,” Colgan explained. “This ice has been consigned to the ocean, regardless of what climate (emissions) scenario we take now.”

Jason Box, a glaciologist at the Greenland survey and lead author of the study added that the ice is “more like one foot in the grave.”

Although “zombie ice” is attached to larger swaths of ice, it is no longer being replenished with new snow by parent glaciers. So, it will eventually melt away due to climate change, contributing to rising water levels globally.

“Ice loss from the Greenland ice sheet is one of the largest sources of contemporary sea-level rise (SLR),” according to the study. Its authors aimed to understand more about ice sheet disequilibrium.

Related

Climate change is taking a toll on bees, study says
Climate change is taking a toll on bees, study says

The National Snow & Ice Data Center also monitors melt levels for the ice sheet. In the past, snowfall from Greenland’s mountains would fortify the area’s glaciers. However, it has decreased over the past few decades.

Researchers who contributed to the recent study believe that the estimated 10.6-inch rise in ocean levels will occur regardless of future climate change. While the timeframe for all the “zombie ice” to melt was provided, Colgan said it can be expected in the next century, or at least by 2150.

Since 1880, the sea level has risen 8 to 9 inches and it is now accelerating, said Climate.gov. Already, high-tide flooding is 300% to 900% more frequent than it was 50 years ago in many locations along U.S. coastlines.

According to another study Colgan contributed to that was published earlier this summer in the Advancing Earth and Space Science journal, “the Arctic is warming more rapidly than the rest of the world,” and that warming is having “an especially profound impact on Greenland’s ice cover.”

Related

Mount Everest has lost 2,000 years of ice since the 1990s
Mount Everest has lost 2,000 years of ice since the 1990s

That study also said “small peripheral glaciers appear poised to play an outsized role in Greenland ice loss for decades to come.”

Rising sea levels play a role in flooding, shoreline erosion and hazardous storms.

“In urban settings along coastlines around the world, rising seas threaten infrastructure necessary for local jobs and regional industries,” said Climate.gov.

“Roads, bridges, subways, water supplies, oil and gas wells, power plants, sewage treatment plants, landfills – the list is practically endless – are all at risk from sea level rise.”

In the U.S. alone, 30% of the population lives in coastal areas that are especially vulnerable to rising sea level-related risks.

LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign up and follow Audacy
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Featured Image Photo Credit: (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)