Is the Greenland Ice Sheet in a state of collapse?

• Published in: Geology Today
• Main Authors: Christoffersen, Poul, Hambrey, Michael J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2006
• Subjects: Arctic; Greenland; Global warming; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2451.2006.00561.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1365-2451.2006.00561.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2451.2006.00561.x

The Greenland Ice Sheet is thinning at an accelerating pace and the ice sheet's contribution to sea‐level rise has doubled in less than a decade. New data show rapid and widespread changes in the behaviour of the ice sheet, particularly along the coastal margin. These changes coincide with a decade of sustained Arctic warming of up to 3 °C. Decay of the Greenland Ice Sheet in response to global warming will not only be governed by increased surface melting during longer and warmer summers but also by a speed‐up of coastal glaciers that drain the interior ice sheet. A precise estimate of sea‐level rise in the twenty‐first century relies on improved theoretical treatment of these glaciers in computer models.