Delaying future sea-level rise by storing water in Antarctica
Even if greenhouse gas emissions were stopped today, sea level would continue to rise for centuries, with the long-term sea-level commitment of a 2 °C warmer world significantly exceeding 2 m. In view of the potential implications for coastal populations and ecosystems worldwide, we investigate, fro...
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ftleibnizopen:oai:oai.leibnizopen.de:6yBLrIcBdbrxVwz6IWcI 2023-06-11T04:06:54+02:00 Delaying future sea-level rise by storing water in Antarctica Frieler, K. Mengel, M. Levermann, A. 2016 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.34657/227 https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/3735 eng eng München : European Geopyhsical Union CC BY 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Earth System Dynamics, Volume 7, Issue 1, Page 203-210 Gas emissions Greenhouse gases Ice Landforms Potential energy Wave propagation 500 article Text 2016 ftleibnizopen https://doi.org/10.34657/227 2023-04-23T23:16:10Z Even if greenhouse gas emissions were stopped today, sea level would continue to rise for centuries, with the long-term sea-level commitment of a 2 °C warmer world significantly exceeding 2 m. In view of the potential implications for coastal populations and ecosystems worldwide, we investigate, from an ice-dynamic perspective, the possibility of delaying sea-level rise by pumping ocean water onto the surface of the Antarctic ice sheet. We find that due to wave propagation ice is discharged much faster back into the ocean than would be expected from a pure advection with surface velocities. The delay time depends strongly on the distance from the coastline at which the additional mass is placed and less strongly on the rate of sea-level rise that is mitigated. A millennium-scale storage of at least 80 % of the additional ice requires placing it at a distance of at least 700 km from the coastline. The pumping energy required to elevate the potential energy of ocean water to mitigate the currently observed 3 mm yr−1 will exceed 7 % of the current global primary energy supply. At the same time, the approach offers a comprehensive protection for entire coastlines particularly including regions that cannot be protected by dikes. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet LeibnizOpen (The Leibniz Association) Antarctic The Antarctic |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
LeibnizOpen (The Leibniz Association) |
op_collection_id |
ftleibnizopen |
language |
English |
topic |
Gas emissions Greenhouse gases Ice Landforms Potential energy Wave propagation 500 |
spellingShingle |
Gas emissions Greenhouse gases Ice Landforms Potential energy Wave propagation 500 Frieler, K. Mengel, M. Levermann, A. Delaying future sea-level rise by storing water in Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Gas emissions Greenhouse gases Ice Landforms Potential energy Wave propagation 500 |
description |
Even if greenhouse gas emissions were stopped today, sea level would continue to rise for centuries, with the long-term sea-level commitment of a 2 °C warmer world significantly exceeding 2 m. In view of the potential implications for coastal populations and ecosystems worldwide, we investigate, from an ice-dynamic perspective, the possibility of delaying sea-level rise by pumping ocean water onto the surface of the Antarctic ice sheet. We find that due to wave propagation ice is discharged much faster back into the ocean than would be expected from a pure advection with surface velocities. The delay time depends strongly on the distance from the coastline at which the additional mass is placed and less strongly on the rate of sea-level rise that is mitigated. A millennium-scale storage of at least 80 % of the additional ice requires placing it at a distance of at least 700 km from the coastline. The pumping energy required to elevate the potential energy of ocean water to mitigate the currently observed 3 mm yr−1 will exceed 7 % of the current global primary energy supply. At the same time, the approach offers a comprehensive protection for entire coastlines particularly including regions that cannot be protected by dikes. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Frieler, K. Mengel, M. Levermann, A. |
author_facet |
Frieler, K. Mengel, M. Levermann, A. |
author_sort |
Frieler, K. |
title |
Delaying future sea-level rise by storing water in Antarctica |
title_short |
Delaying future sea-level rise by storing water in Antarctica |
title_full |
Delaying future sea-level rise by storing water in Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Delaying future sea-level rise by storing water in Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Delaying future sea-level rise by storing water in Antarctica |
title_sort |
delaying future sea-level rise by storing water in antarctica |
publisher |
München : European Geopyhsical Union |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.34657/227 https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/3735 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Earth System Dynamics, Volume 7, Issue 1, Page 203-210 |
op_rights |
CC BY 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.34657/227 |
_version_ |
1768379142069288960 |