Yet another "It's worse than we thought" article on global warming

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Climate change altering Greenland ice sheet and accelerating sea level rise, says York U prof

http://news.yorku.ca/2016/01/04/climate-change-altering-greenland-ice-sheet-and-accelerating-sea-level-rise-says-york-u-prof/

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Climate change altering Greenland ice sheet and accelerating sea level rise, says York U prof[/font]

January 4, 2016

[font size=4]TORONTO, January 4, 2016 – The Greenland ice sheet has traditionally been pictured as a bit of a sponge for glacier meltwater, but new research has found it is rapidly losing the ability to buffer its contribution to rising sea levels, says a York University researcher.[/font]

[font size=3]York U Professor William Colgan, a co-author on the study published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, helped analyse data from three expeditions to the Greenland ice sheet in 2012, 2013 and 2015. The research was done in conjunction with lead researcher Horst Machguth of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Mike MacFerrin of the University of Colorado at Boulder and Dirk van As of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Copenhagen, Denmark.

…

As Machguth said, “Basically our research shows that the firn reacts fast to a changing climate. Its ability to limit mass loss of the ice sheet by retaining meltwater could be smaller than previously assumed.”

Because the models scientists use to project Greenland’s sea level rise contribution do not presently take firn cap-off into consideration, it means that Greenland’s projected sea level rise due to meltwater runoff is likely higher than previously predicted. Getting this newly observed physical process into these models is an important next step for the team.

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