Ice in Greenland has been melting for centuries. Researchers suggest that understanding the history of ice melting in Greenland may hold clues for future sea-level rise.
Nicolaj Krog Larsen, a geologist at the Aarhus University, Denmark and the study researcher, learned that the ice present in Greenland has varied in size since the end of the Ice Age about 11,500 years ago. The research team was able to quantify the way the Greenland Ice Sheet reacted to warmer temperatures that prevailed 8,000 to 5,000 years ago. Larsen also found that the temperature at that time was around 2 to 4 degrees Celsius warmer than how it is presently.
The scientists spent nearly six summers collecting samples from lakes that surround the Greenland Ice Sheet then examined them. Collecting samples from these lakes is important because the samples contain glacial sediments from centuries ago. By examining the collected samples, the researchers wanted to precisely find the period when ice in the region was smaller in comparison to the present day.
"It has been hard work getting all these lake cores home, but it has definitely been worth the effort. Finally we are able to describe the ice sheet's response to earlier warm periods," said Larsen.
Glaciers usually leave a mark pertaining to their presence in the surrounding landscape. However, the researchers found that such evidence was removed by fresh glacial advances.
Researchers disclosed that by combining lake sediments with the help of new techniques, they were able to quantify the lost mass of ice over thousands of years.
The study found that ice in the region was at its smallest reach during the warming that occurred about 8,000 to 5,000 years ago. During this time, the mass of ice in the region was getting reduced by 100 Gigaton per year, which is equivalent to 16 cm of global sea-level rise.
The study also highlighted that the ice mass loss in the past 25 years ranged between 0 to 400 Gigaton each year. The researchers estimate that warming in the Arctic will likely increase by 2 to 7 degrees Celsius by the year 2100.
The study was published in the journal Geology.
