Study Has Found Widespread Mass Loss Glaciers In Greenland

A study has found widespread mass loss of glaciers and ice caps in Greenland since the start of the 20th century. The research provides critical insights into long-term changes to the glaciers and ice caps as a result of climate change, which has contributed about one fifth to global sea-level rise in the last decade. Using historical data, scientists mapped 5,327 glaciers and ice caps that existed at the end of the Little Ice Age in 1900, a period of wide-spread cooling when average global temperatures dropped by as much as 2°C. They were then able to reveal that these fragmented into 5,467 glaciers and ice caps by 2001. The study – Mass Loss of Glaciers and Ice Caps Across Greenland Since the Little Ice Age – published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, said Greenland’s glaciers have lost at least 587 km3 of ice over the last century, accounting for 1.38 millimetres of sea-level rise.