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 degrees C warmer world significantly exceeding 2 m. In view of the potential implications for coastal populations and ecosystems worldwide, we investiga...
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ftubpotsdam:oai:kobv.de-opus4-uni-potsdam:45806 2024-04-21T07:47:16+00:00 Delaying future sea-level rise by storing water in Antarctica Frieler, Katja Mengel, M. Levermann, Anders (Prof. Dr.) 2016 https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/45806 https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-203-2016 eng eng https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/45806 https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-203-2016 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Institut für Physik und Astronomie article doc-type:article 2016 ftubpotsdam https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-203-2016 2024-03-27T15:02:48Z 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 degrees 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 mmyr(-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. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet University of Potsdam: publish.UP Earth System Dynamics 7 1 203 210 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Potsdam: publish.UP |
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ftubpotsdam |
language |
English |
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Institut für Physik und Astronomie |
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Institut für Physik und Astronomie Frieler, Katja Mengel, M. Levermann, Anders (Prof. Dr.) Delaying future sea-level rise by storing water in Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Institut für Physik und Astronomie |
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 degrees 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 mmyr(-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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Frieler, Katja Mengel, M. Levermann, Anders (Prof. Dr.) |
author_facet |
Frieler, Katja Mengel, M. Levermann, Anders (Prof. Dr.) |
author_sort |
Frieler, Katja |
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 |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/45806 https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-203-2016 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/45806 https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-203-2016 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-203-2016 |
container_title |
Earth System Dynamics |
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7 |
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1 |
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203 |
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210 |
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1796946015941558272 |