A case study on the effects of open waste burning on air quality in Northwestern Greenland calls attention to the importance of no-one-left-behind sustainable air quality monitoring in the Arctic region.
Tag: Greenland
Geoengineering may slow Greenland ice sheet loss
Modeling shows that stratospheric aerosol injection has the potential to reduce ice sheet loss due to climate change.
Environmental DNA uncovers a 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland
An international team, including a researcher from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), report the oldest ancient environmental DNA (eDNA) record to date describing the rich plant and animal assemblages of the Kap København Formation in north Greenland that existed 2 million years ago.
Direct measurement of optical properties of glacier ice using a photon-counting diffuse LiDAR
Physicists from the University of Oregon’s Oregon Center for Optical Molecular and Quantum Science along with glaciologists from the Department of Geography as well as the Oregon Glacier Institute spent the last year developing a new measurement technique to investigate…
Rapid glacial advance reconstructed during the time of Norse occupation in Greenland
The Greenland Ice Sheet is the second largest ice body in the world, and it has the potential to contribute significantly to global sea-level rise in a warming global climate.
A recent reversal in the response of western Greenland’s ice caps to climate change
Greenland may be best known for its enormous continental scale ice sheet that soars up to 3,000 meters above sea level, whose rapid melting is a leading contributor to global sea level rise.
Catastrophic Sea-Level Rise from Antarctic Melting is Possible with Severe Global Warming
The Antarctic ice sheet is much less likely to become unstable and cause dramatic sea-level rise in upcoming centuries if the world follows policies that keep global warming below a key 2015 Paris climate agreement target, according to a Rutgers coauthored study. But if global warming exceeds the target – 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) – the risk of ice shelves around the ice sheet’s perimeter melting would increase significantly, and their collapse would trigger rapid Antarctic melting. That would result in at least 0.07 inches of global average sea-level rise a year in 2060 and beyond, according to the study in the journal Nature.
UCI researchers identify primary causes of Greenland’s rapid ice sheet surface melt
Irvine, Calif., May 5, 2021 — Intense, wide-spread melting events in Greenland, such as one in July 2012 that touched nearly every part of the massive island’s frozen slab, are catastrophic, but they still account for only a small portion of the total deterioration of the ice sheet, according to researchers at the University of California, Irvine.
Overfishing of Atlantic Cod Likely Did Not Cause Genetic Changes
Overfishing likely did not cause the Atlantic cod, an iconic species, to evolve genetically and mature earlier, according to a study led by Rutgers University and the University of Oslo – the first of its kind – with major implications for ocean conservation.
Greenland landscape history preserved under 1.4 kilometers of ice
Greenland wasn’t always covered in ice. In fact, within the last 1.1 million years ,Greenland had thriving vegetation and ecosystems. That is the conclusion of an international group of researchers including a scientist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) that analyzed sediment at the base of the Camp Century ice core (1.4 kilometers deep) collected in 1966. The research appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Scientists stunned to discover fossil plants beneath mile-deep Greenland ice—indicating risk of rapid sea-level rise
Scientists found frozen plant fossils, preserved under a mile of ice on Greenland. The discovery helps confirm a new and troubling understanding that the Greenland Ice Sheet has melted entirely during recent warm periods in Earth’s history—like the one we are now creating with human-caused climate change.
Greenland Melting Likely Increased by Bacteria in Sediment
Bacteria are likely triggering greater melting on the Greenland ice sheet, possibly increasing the island’s contribution to sea-level rise, according to Rutgers scientists. That’s because the microbes cause sunlight-absorbing sediment to clump together and accumulate in the meltwater streams, according to a Rutgers-led study – the first of its kind – in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The findings can be incorporated in climate models, leading to more accurate predictions of melting, scientists say.
Coldest Northern Hemisphere temperature, first recorded by UW–Madison, officially confirmed
Nearly 30 years after recording a temperature of minus 93.2 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 69.6 Celsius) in Greenland, the measurement has been verified by the World Meteorological Organization as the coldest recorded temperature in the Northern Hemisphere. The measurement was first recorded by a University of Wisconsin–Madison Antarctic Meteorological Research Center Automatic Weather Station in December 1991.
Warming Greenland ice sheet passes point of no return
Nearly 40 years of satellite data from Greenland shows that glaciers on the island have shrunk so much that even if global warming were to stop today, the ice sheet would continue shrinking.
How Stable is Deep Ocean Circulation in Warmer Climate?
If circulation of deep waters in the Atlantic stops or slows due to climate change, it could cause cooling in northern North America and Europe – a scenario that has occurred during past cold glacial periods. Now, a Rutgers coauthored study suggests that short-term disruptions of deep ocean circulation occurred during warm interglacial periods in the last 450,000 years, and may happen again.
Greenland shed ice at unprecedented rate in 2019; Antarctica continues to lose mass
Irvine, Calif., March 18, 2020 – During the exceptionally warm Arctic summer of 2019, Greenland lost 600 billion tons of ice, enough to raise global sea levels by 2.2 millimeters in two months. On the opposite pole, Antarctica continued to lose mass in the Amundsen Sea Embayment and Antarctic Peninsula but saw some relief in the form of increased snowfall in Queen Maud Land, in the eastern part of the continent.
Beneath the Ice: FSU researchers find newly uncovered Arctic landscape plays important role in carbon cycle
As the ice sheet covering most of Greenland retreats, Florida State University researchers are studying the newly revealed landscape to understand its role in the carbon cycle.
Rutgers Expert Available to Discuss Greenland Ice Sheet Study
New Brunswick, N.J. (Dec. 23, 2019) – The southern Greenland Ice Sheet may experience precipitous melting this century due to a much smaller temperature increase than scientists thought would be required, according to a Rutgers co-authored study. The global sea level…
Shrinking of Greenland’s glaciers began accelerating in 2000, research finds
Satellite data has given scientists clues about how, when and why Greenland’s glaciers are shrinking – and shows a sharp increase in glacial retreat beginning about 2000, according to new research presented this week.