Greenland Icesheet May Be Melting Faster Than Predicted. By Richard Ingham, Queensland Courier Mail, September 1, 2008. "[In a study published online in Nature Geoscience,] scientists say they can no longer rule out a fast-track melting of the Greenland icesheet, a prospect once merely the preserve of doomsayers. Such melting would see much of the world's coastline drowned by rising seas. The researchers found that the great Laurentide icesheet which smothered much of North America during the last Ice Age melted far swifter than realised, dumping billions of tonnes of water into the ocean. The discovery raises worrying questions about the future stability of Greenland's icesheet, for the Laurentide melt occurred thanks to a spurt of warming that could be mirrored once more by the end of this century, they said... 'This new evidence from the past, paired with our model for predicting future climate, indicates that 'glacial' is anything but slow. Past icesheets responded quickly to a changing climate, hinting at the potential for a similar response in the future.'"
2008-09-02
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