Researchers believe that additional inflows of fresh water into the North Atlantic could trigger a collapse of ocean currents.
Greenland’s ice sheet is melting 20% faster than previously thought. It is losing 30 million tons of ice every hour due to the climate crisis, according to new data. The Guardian reported this.
Some scientists worry that this additional source of fresh water entering the North Atlantic could mean that a disruption in a current called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is nearing its end, with severe consequences for humanity.
Significant ice losses from Greenland as a result of global warming have been recorded for decades.
So scientists used artificial intelligence to map more than 235,000 glaciers over a 38-year period at a resolution of 120 meters. It showed that since 1985, the Greenland ice sheet has lost an area of about 5,000 square meters. km of ice from its edges, which is equivalent to a trillion tons of ice.
“The changes around Greenland are huge and they’re happening everywhere – almost every glacier has shrunk over the last few decades,” said Dr Chad Green from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the US, who led the study.
At the same time, the researchers noted that, in the worst case scenario, the tipping point could come in 2025. Most of Greenland’s ice sheets are also close to the tipping point of irreversible melting, equivalent to a 1-2 meter rise of sea level, scientists say.
The latest data from a project that compiled all other Greenland ice measurements showed that 221 billion tons of ice have been lost each year since 2003. The new study adds another 43 billion tons per year, for a total loss of about 30 million tons per hour on average.
Earlier it was reported that NASA said that the weight of the world’s largest island – Greenland – has decreased significantly due to melting ice.
Source: korrespondent
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