Melting of Greenland and Antarctica Ice Sheets is Accelerating

Ice sheets on the edges of Greenland and western Antarctica are melting faster than expected, new satellite information shows, and scientists say in some regions the melt is accelerating at “runaway” speeds. Ice in some parts of Antarctica has lost about 30 feet of thickness each year since 2003, according to a report published in the journal Nature. The rate of melt during that span is about 50 percent faster than it was from 1995 to 2003. The findings, which are based on laser readings from a NASA satellite, confirm concerns among some climate scientists that the accelerating rate of ice sheet melting has become a self-feeding phenomenon — essentially, the more the ice melts, the more the water near the ice sheets causes more melting. “The question is how far will it run?” said Hamish Pritchard of the British Antarctic Survey and lead author of the study. “It’s more widespread than we previously thought.” According to researchers, 81 of the 111 Greenland glaciers are melting at an accelerated pace. The study does not indicate how this acceleration will affect sea level rise.