News in Brief: Canada?s ice shrinking rapidly

News in Brief: Canada?s ice shrinking rapidly

Melt from Arctic Archipelago will raise sea levels by 35 millimeters

By Erin Wayman

Web edition: March 11, 2013

Melt from Arctic Archipelago will raise sea levels by 35 millimeters

By Erin Wayman

Web edition: March 11, 2013

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THREATENED ICE

During the 21st century, glacial melt in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (including Ellesmere Island, shown in a satellite view) could raise global sea level by 35 millimeters, a new study finds.

Credit: NASA

The glaciers of Canada?s Arctic islands are irreversibly melting, researchers warn.

Jan Lenaerts of Utrecht University in the Netherlands and colleagues simulated ice loss in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago throughout the 21st century as temperatures warm. By around 2100, the islands? glaciers may shed 12.4 trillion tons of ice, or 18 percent of their current volume.

That melting would raise global sea level 3.5 centimeters, the team reports online March 7 in Geophysical Research Letters. After Greenland and Antarctica, the archipelago will be the world?s third-largest source of sea level rise caused by vanishing ice.

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Citations

J.T.M. Lenaerts et al. Irreversible mass loss of Canadian Arctic Archipelago glaciers. Geophysical Research Letters. doi:10.1002/grl.50214. [Go to]

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Suggested Reading

D. Powell. Himalaya rush. Science News. Vol. 182, August 25, 2012, p. 18. Available online: [Go to]

J. Raloff. Modern-day sea level rise skyrocketing. Science News. Vol. 180, July 16, 2011, p. 13. Available online: [Go to]

E. Wayman. Shrinking polar ice caused one-fifth of sea level rise. Science News. Vol. 182, December 29, 2012, p. 10. Available online: [Go to]

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/348880/title/News_in_Brief_Canadas_ice_shrinking_rapidly

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