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> The new study provides strong evidence that Greenland is more sensitive to climate change than previously understood -- and at risk of irreversibly melting.
by animal_spirits 6y ago
> The new study provides strong evidence that Greenland is more sensitive to climate change than previously understood -- and at risk of irreversibly melting.
I think its silly to say _irreversibly_ melting. It apparently was completely ice free at one point, and then something natural caused it to freeze over. Likely it could happen again in the future
- danielheath 6y agoSure, but it seems unlikely to be reversible on human timescales, which are the ones that matter to me.
- exporectomy 6y agoIt won't melt on human timescales either. Total mass of Greenland ice = 4e15 tonnes. Upper end of predicted melt rate this century = 4e13 tonnes/century. So it could lose up to 1% of its mass this century or at the same rate, take 10,000 years to completely melt.
- eloff 6y agoThose estimates can always be revised as we learn more, and melting ice sheets are not a linear process - it accelerates both as it melts and as the climate continues to warm. You're right that it will take a long time, but wrong that we needn't worry. Even just a couple feet of sea level rise will wreak havoc in parts of the world.
- exporectomy 6y agoWe're talking about the irreversibility of the melting here, not the fact that it's melting which everyone already knows and was even happening before AGW started.
- eloff 6y agoNo, we were taking about the pace of melting and the impact of that. Don't move the goal posts.