Greenland is doomed to melt

[Dogmudgeon]

Of course it's true ... it's in Pravda!

Greenland is covered by the biggest ice sheet in the northern hemisphere: almost 772,000 square miles of ice which is up to 1.9 miles thick, the base of which is below sea level. Greenland's icy mountains and the island's entire ice cap could disappear in the next 1,000 years because of global warming, European scientists warn today. If that occurs sea levels will rise by seven metres, drowning low-level coastlines around the world.

...

"As well as raising sea levels significantly, loss of the Greenland ice sheet would greatly alter the climate of Greenland," Dr Gregory said. "Unlike the ice on the Arctic Ocean, much of which melts and re-forms each year, the Greenland ice sheet might not re-grow even if the global climate were returned to pre-industrial conditions," v inform independent.co.uk

According to newscientist.com The Greenland ice sheet is all but doomed to melt away to nothing, according to a new modelling study. If it does melt, global sea levels will rise by seven metres, flooding most of the world's coastal regions.

Of course, the melting is already near the "runaway" level, and the salinity of the North Atlantic has decreased to historic lows. Broecker's ice-age triggering mechanism would be much more likely to be tripped.

Apres moi, le glace?

--bkl

[NMDemDist2]

1. the scary thing about that is

all the fresh water could upset the Gulfstream and send northern Europe and the UK into an ice age.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. That's "Broecker's scenario"

Wallace Broecker was the scientist who developed this theory, which is turning out to be a lot better-supported than he ever thought it would be.

Personally, I think the Earth entered the irreversible phase of climate change in the 1990s. The next 5-10 years will be particularly favorable for such a rapid climate change, with "favorable" periods happening about every other decade, following better-observed climatic cycles.

As warming and ice-melt increase, the favorable periods will last longer and longer. If the "climate flip-flop" hasn't happened by then (probably 2050-2100), then it will happen by sheer force of the thermodynamic effects instead of the triggering effects of climate cycles. This corresponds to the "runaway melting" scenario forecast for mid-century.

Right now, it's all just blue sky, but so many of these predicted climatic effects have turned out to be true that the anti-environmentalists' arguments sound like so much ... hot air.

--bkl

[Minstrel Boy]

2. Not just Pravda: The Times of London:

Catastrophe alert over melting ice from Greenland
By Nigel Hawkes


GREENLAND’s ice sheet is almost certain to melt away, raising sea levels by seven metres, unless more ambitious targets are set for reducing global warming.

A new analysis shows that within half a century, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will be high enough to start the huge ice sheet melting.

The melting would take a long time, as much as 1,000 years, but the effects on sea level would be catastrophic. A rise of 7m (23ft) would be enough to inundate huge areas of land, with entire countries, such as the Maldives, disappearing.

Large areas of Britain would disappear under the waves if sea levels rose by 7m. Sea defences around East Anglia and the Somerset Levels would be washed away and the estuaries of major rivers would also face inundation from floods of water. The Thames Barrier could not cope with anything like an increase in sea level and large parts of Central London, including many prime sites, would be at risk.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-1067480,00.html

"Within half a century": computer models also project a runaway greenhouse effect in 50 years. If that happens, the flooding will be a temporary inconvenience. The oceans will begin evaporating.

[treepig]

4. "doomed" to melt?

what's with all the pessimism?

won't that just open up a lot of real estate for the europeans suffering from the ice age proposed in earlier posts in this thread?

see, everything will work out in the end.

[Ediacara]

5. Of course it will melt

And then it will freeze.

And then it will melt.

And then it will freeze.

And then it will melt.

And then it will freeze.

And then it will melt.

And then it will freeze.

And then it will melt.

And then it will freeze.

And then it will melt.

And then it will freeze.

And then it will melt.

And then it will freeze.

And then it will melt.

Ad nauseum for a few million years, and then the Earth will enter a global greenhouse period and will remain there for a few tens of millions of years, and then it will enter another global icehouse period etc etc.

Memo to humanity, don't build coastal cities: they don't last.

ON EDIT: not that I doubt human-caused global warming, just want to point out that Greenland melting is not a shocking development like, oh, the Moon crashing into the Earth would be. It's just something that was bound to happen, and we probably sped along somwhat.

[AbsolutMauser]

6. Agreed

But I do doubt whether the human contribution to the global warming effect is as high as a lot of people suggest. This is not to say that we ought to continue our current modus operandi of poisoning ourselves to death. Greenland is going to melt whether or not we pump out any more SO2.

~AbM