Greenland Rapidly Rising as Ice Melt Continues

[Kingz Profile]

Greenland Rapidly Rising as Ice Melt Continues
ScienceDaily (May 18, 2010)

Greenland is situated in the Atlantic Ocean to the northeast of Canada. It has stunning fjords on its rocky coast formed by moving glaciers, and a dense icecap up to 2 km thick that covers much of the island--pressing down the land beneath and lowering its elevation. Now, scientists at the University of Miami say Greenland's ice is melting so quickly that the land underneath is rising at an accelerated pace.


This is a satellite image of Western Greenland, acquired by NASA's MODIS satellite. The narrow grey band in the center of the image is melting ice, between the rocky coast to the left (west) and thicker, non-melting, higher altitude ice to the right (east). Small lakes form in this region during the summer. Arrow points to darker grey zone of rapidly thinning ice near the outlet of Jacobshavn glacier, which also loses mass due to iceberg calving. (Credit: Courtesy of NASA)

According to the study, some coastal areas are going up by nearly one inch per year and if current trends continue, that number could accelerate to as much as two inches per year by 2025, explains Tim Dixon, professor of geophysics at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) and principal investigator of the study.

"It's been known for several years that climate change is contributing to the melting of Greenland's ice sheet," Dixon says. "What's surprising, and a bit worrisome, is that the ice is melting so fast that we can actually see the land uplift in response," he says. "Even more surprising, the rise seems to be accelerating, implying that melting is accelerating."

Dixon and his collaborators share their findings in a new study titled "Accelerating uplift in the North Atlantic region as an indicator of ice loss," The paper is now available as an advanced online publication, by Nature Geoscience. The idea behind the study is that if Greenland is losing its ice cover, the resulting loss of weight causes the rocky surface beneath to rise. The same process is affecting the islands of Iceland and Svalbard, which also have ice caps, explains Shimon Wdowinski, research associate professor in the University of Miami RSMAS, and co-author of the study.

"During ice ages and in times of ice accumulation, the ice suppresses the land," Wdowinski says. "When the ice melts, the land rebounds upwards," he says. "Our study is consistent with a number of global warming indicators, confirming that ice melt and sea level rise are real and becoming significant."

Using specialized global positioning system (GPS) receivers stationed on the rocky shores of Greenland, the scientists looked at data from 1995 onward. The raw GPS data were analyzed for high accuracy position information, as well as the vertical velocity and acceleration of each GPS site.

The measurements are restricted to places where rock is exposed, limiting the study to coastal areas. However, previous data indicate that ice in Greenland's interior is in approximate balance: yearly losses from ice melting and flowing toward the coast are balanced by new snow accumulation, which gradually turns to ice. Most ice loss occurs at the warmer coast, by melting and iceberg calving and where the GPS data are most sensitive to changes. In western Greenland, the uplift seems to have started in the late 1990's.

Melting of Greenland's ice contributes to global sea level rise. If the acceleration of uplift and the implied acceleration of melting continue, Greenland could soon become the largest contributor to global sea level rise, explains Yan Jiang, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Miami RSMAS and co-author of the study.

"Greenland's ice melt is very important because it has a big impact on global sea level rise," Jiang says. "We hope that our work reaches the general public and that this information is considered by policy makers."

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation and NASA. The team plans to continue its studies, looking at additional GPS stations in sensitive coastal areas, where ice loss is believed to be highest.

Story Source:
Adapted from materials provided by University of Miami, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS. http://www.miami.edu/

Journal Reference:
1. Yan Jiang, Timothy H. Dixon, Shimon Wdowinski. Accelerating uplift in the North Atlantic region as an indicator of ice loss. Nature Geoscience, 2010; DOI: http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop ... eo845.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 170218.htm

[Anuki Profile]

Greenland Rapidly Rising as Ice Melt Continues
ScienceDaily (May 18, 2010)



Melting of Greenland's ice contributes to global sea level rise. If the acceleration of uplift and the implied acceleration of melting continue, Greenland could soon become the largest contributor to global sea level rise, explains Yan Jiang, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Miami RSMAS and co-author of the study.

"Greenland's ice melt is very important because it has a big impact on global sea level rise," Jiang says. "We hope that our work reaches the general public and that this information is considered by policy makers."

I think it will be oke, just like the northpole,
someone on dutch tv explaned ( a few days ago) why theres nothing to fear if the northpole ice melts.
Cause the ice is allready in the water, like an icecube in your glas with cola for example,
if the icecube melts, your glas is not gonna get fuller...

Its just like the so called warming up of the planet, i dont trust no, so called experts, no more...



____________________________________________

Dont look to me for answers cause i dont wanna lie

[Anuki Profile]

btw this does not count fot the southpole

[Kingz Profile]

Greenland Rapidly Rising as Ice Melt Continues
ScienceDaily (May 18, 2010)



Melting of Greenland's ice contributes to global sea level rise. If the acceleration of uplift and the implied acceleration of melting continue, Greenland could soon become the largest contributor to global sea level rise, explains Yan Jiang, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Miami RSMAS and co-author of the study.

"Greenland's ice melt is very important because it has a big impact on global sea level rise," Jiang says. "We hope that our work reaches the general public and that this information is considered by policy makers."

I think it will be oke, just like the northpole,
someone on dutch tv explaned ( a few days ago) why theres nothing to fear if the northpole ice melts.
Cause the ice is allready in the water, like an icecube in your glas with cola for example,
if the icecube melts, your glas is not gonna get fuller...

Its just like the so called warming up of the planet, i dont trust no, so called experts, no more...



____________________________________________

Dont look to me for answers cause i dont wanna lie

Question

Assume there is an ice cube in a glass of water. When the ice cube melts, will the water level have risen, fallen, or remained the same? Why?

Asked by: Hugo Polichemi

Answer

Lets see now. Some intuitive center in my brain is screaming 'it will remain the same', but we will try to think it over.

In the first state, we have an ice cube of mass m floating in the water. If it is floating (in equilibrium), it will have to displace enough water to support its weight. How much is that? It is just Volume = m/d , where m is the mass of the ice cube, and d is the density of water.

In the second state, where the ice has melted, it turns into water of volume.... Volume = m/d! exactly the same volume as it displaced before. So the added volume is the same, so the level of the water will not change.

As a matter of fact, as long as objects are floating (i.e. they don't rest on the bottom) they displace enough water to support their mass. Since by turning from solid to liquid, the mass of water does not change (well, maybe it does, due to mass-energy equivalence, but that's _really_ negligible) it will keep displacing the same amount of water.

However, note that this may not apply to everything. If you had solid alcohol floating in water, when it melts, the level would drop, because water and alcohol mix at the molecular level; i.e. water filling spaces among alcohol molecules.

Answered by: Yasar Safkan, Ph.D., Sofware Engineer, Noktalar A.S., Istanbul, Turkey


The water level remains the same when the ice cube melts.

A floating object displaces an amount of water equal to its own weight. Since water expands when it freezes, one ounce of frozen water has a larger volume than one ounce of liquid water. A completely submerged ice cube weighing one ounce, for example, displaces MORE than one ounce of liquid water. The cube will rise until the volume remaining under the surface displaces only one ounce of water.

If you could remove the ice cube and leave a 'hole' in the water where the cube used to float without disturbing the surrounding water, that hole would take exactly one ounce of liquid water to fill. Let the ice cube melt. Since it is now one ounce of liquid water, putting it back into the 'hole' will exactly fill it and leave the remaining water undisturbed.

Answered by: Paul Walorski, Part Time Physics Instructor

you never know though... in every science and theory, there is a counterargument

[Nihilgeist Profile]

I think it will be oke, just like the northpole,
someone on dutch tv explaned ( a few days ago) why theres nothing to fear if the northpole ice melts.
Cause the ice is allready in the water, like an icecube in your glas with cola for example,
if the icecube melts, your glas is not gonna get fuller...

Its just like the so called warming up of the planet, i dont trust no, so called experts, no more...



____________________________________________

Dont look to me for answers cause i dont wanna lie

Umm, sorry but no. The north pole ice is already displacing sea water, so it melting has no affect on sea level. Greenlands ice is mostly located on land, so if it melts, it will end up from the land into the oceans, adding to the existing water in the oceans, thereby raising the sea level.

You don't have to be a 'so called expert' to know this.

[Ph0enix Profile YIM]

as far as the ice burgs giving off more water as they melt... yes they do. when we freeze things they contract. If you could put an iceburg in a room that was just the right size and fit the iceburg perfectly, the room would be too small when the burg melted. thest this theory. fill a cup almost to the top with something then put ice cups in it. make sure the cup isn't already flowing over but the waterline is very high. walk away and leave it at room temperature. when all the ice melts it will overflow.

as far as greenland rising and its ice melting, heat does both of those things. it seems strange to me that we've had hot periods and solar maximums and whatnot, yet they can find icecores thousands and thousands of years old. this tells me that all thats going on right now is something new.

[Curtjet Profile]

I think it will be oke, just like the northpole,
someone on dutch tv explaned ( a few days ago) why theres nothing to fear if the northpole ice melts.
Cause the ice is allready in the water, like an icecube in your glas with cola for example,
if the icecube melts, your glas is not gonna get fuller...

Its just like the so called warming up of the planet, i dont trust no, so called experts, no more...



____________________________________________

Dont look to me for answers cause i dont wanna lie

Umm, sorry but no. The north pole ice is already displacing sea water, so it melting has no affect on sea level. Greenlands ice is mostly located on land, so if it melts, it will end up from the land into the oceans, adding to the existing water in the oceans, thereby raising the sea level.

You don't have to be a 'so called expert' to know this.

I think the point is that as greenland rises it comes out of the water, so in essence the melting ice is replacing the rising land.

[Anuki Profile]

I think it will be oke, just like the northpole,
someone on dutch tv explaned ( a few days ago) why theres nothing to fear if the northpole ice melts.
Cause the ice is allready in the water, like an icecube in your glas with cola for example,
if the icecube melts, your glas is not gonna get fuller...

Its just like the so called warming up of the planet, i dont trust no, so called experts, no more...



____________________________________________

Dont look to me for answers cause i dont wanna lie

Umm, sorry but no. The north pole ice is already displacing sea water, so it melting has no affect on sea level. Greenlands ice is mostly located on land, so if it melts, it will end up from the land into the oceans, adding to the existing water in the oceans, thereby raising the sea level.

You don't have to be a 'so called expert' to know this.

I think the point is that as greenland rises it comes out of the water, so in essence the melting ice is replacing the rising land.

thrue!

_____________________________

Dont look to me for answers, cause i dont wanna lie.

_______________________________

[Anuki Profile]

Greenland Rapidly Rising as Ice Melt Continues
ScienceDaily (May 18, 2010)



Melting of Greenland's ice contributes to global sea level rise. If the acceleration of uplift and the implied acceleration of melting continue, Greenland could soon become the largest contributor to global sea level rise, explains Yan Jiang, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Miami RSMAS and co-author of the study.

"Greenland's ice melt is very important because it has a big impact on global sea level rise," Jiang says. "We hope that our work reaches the general public and that this information is considered by policy makers."

I think it will be oke, just like the northpole,
someone on dutch tv explaned ( a few days ago) why theres nothing to fear if the northpole ice melts.
Cause the ice is allready in the water, like an icecube in your glas with cola for example,
if the icecube melts, your glas is not gonna get fuller...

Its just like the so called warming up of the planet, i dont trust no, so called experts, no more...



____________________________________________

Dont look to me for answers cause i dont wanna lie

Question

Assume there is an ice cube in a glass of water. When the ice cube melts, will the water level have risen, fallen, or remained the same? Why?

Asked by: Hugo Polichemi

Answer

Lets see now. Some intuitive center in my brain is screaming 'it will remain the same', but we will try to think it over.

In the first state, we have an ice cube of mass m floating in the water. If it is floating (in equilibrium), it will have to displace enough water to support its weight. How much is that? It is just Volume = m/d , where m is the mass of the ice cube, and d is the density of water.

In the second state, where the ice has melted, it turns into water of volume.... Volume = m/d! exactly the same volume as it displaced before. So the added volume is the same, so the level of the water will not change.

As a matter of fact, as long as objects are floating (i.e. they don't rest on the bottom) they displace enough water to support their mass. Since by turning from solid to liquid, the mass of water does not change (well, maybe it does, due to mass-energy equivalence, but that's _really_ negligible) it will keep displacing the same amount of water.

However, note that this may not apply to everything. If you had solid alcohol floating in water, when it melts, the level would drop, because water and alcohol mix at the molecular level; i.e. water filling spaces among alcohol molecules.

Answered by: Yasar Safkan, Ph.D., Sofware Engineer, Noktalar A.S., Istanbul, Turkey


The water level remains the same when the ice cube melts.

A floating object displaces an amount of water equal to its own weight. Since water expands when it freezes, one ounce of frozen water has a larger volume than one ounce of liquid water. A completely submerged ice cube weighing one ounce, for example, displaces MORE than one ounce of liquid water. The cube will rise until the volume remaining under the surface displaces only one ounce of water.

If you could remove the ice cube and leave a 'hole' in the water where the cube used to float without disturbing the surrounding water, that hole would take exactly one ounce of liquid water to fill. Let the ice cube melt. Since it is now one ounce of liquid water, putting it back into the 'hole' will exactly fill it and leave the remaining water undisturbed.

Answered by: Paul Walorski, Part Time Physics Instructor

you never know though... in every science and theory, there is a counterargument

This im gonna read tomorrow
to much (english) words at 4.00 in the morning