Greenland ’s deoxyephedrine flat solid is thesecond - big glass cap on Earth , and because of the satellite ’s rising temperatures , it ’s melting . Human - induce climate change is intensifying atmospherical rivers , but new research suggests their impact on Greenland ’s ice sheet is more complex than once cogitate .
A research yoke has investigated the recent impact of an intense atmospheric river — a television channel of H2O vapor that brings wet and heat from warmer sea to colder regions — on Greenland ’s meth sail . Unexpectedly , they feel that this phenomenon situate 16 billion tons of snow on Greenland , enough to temporarily slow its deoxyephedrine thawing . As detail in astudypublished March 3 in the daybook Geophysical Research Letters , atmospheric rivers might have a more positive impact than researchers had theorized .
“ I was surprise by just how much nose candy was dumped on the ice sheet over such a short stop , ” Alun Hubbard , a glaciologist at the Arctic University of Tromsø and study co - author , pronounce in an American Geophysical Union ( AGU)statement . “ I remember it ’d be a minute of arc amount , but it ’s a gobsmacking contribution to Greenland ’s annual ice mass . ”
Glaciologist Alun Hubbard holding a section of a Greenland ice core.© Bruno Long
worldwide warmingis melting Greenland ’s water ice canvas at unprecedented rates . In 2023 , the water ice sheetlost 80 gigatons of water supply — that ’s approximately 660,430 congius ( 2.5 million l ) of H2O per second . In 2024 , it wither for the28th year in a row . If the intact ice sheet were to thaw , the ocean level would rise by over 23 feet ( 7 meters ) . mood scientists augur that climate alteration will also intensify atmospherical rivers , make them stronger and more frequent , which could accelerate ice loss in Greenland .
However , an atmospherical river that go on in March 2022 challenges this notion . At the time , lead author Hannah Bailey , a geochemist at the University of Oulu , was in Svalbard . As the atmospherical river biff the small Norwegian archipelago with vivid rain , Bailey wondered what it was doing 1,245 nautical mile ( 2,000 kilometers ) off , in Greenland . A yr later , she and Hubbard traveled to southeastern Greenland to investigate the matter .
There , the two research worker collected a 49 - ft ( 15 - meter ) inwardness of firn — dense , squeeze snow that gradually turns into glacial ice . Ice Congress of Racial Equality are nature ’s record keepers , and this one document almost 10 yr worth of Charles Percy Snow accumulation . By comparing complex analyses of the glass core to local weather data , Bailey and Hubbard identified the ice core section corresponding to the 2022 atmospherical river .
“ Using high - acme firn heart sample and isotopic psychoanalysis allowed us to pinpoint the sinful snow from this atmospherical river , ” Bailey explain . “ It ’s a rare chance to directly link such an event to Greenland frappe sheet surface good deal balance and kinetics . ”
The ice magnetic core surgical incision revealed that the atmospheric river had brought 16 billion long ton of snow to Greenland , single - handedly offset the ice-skating rink tack ’s yearly Methedrine loss by 8 % in just three day . As tell in the AGU press liberation :
The atmospheric river had had pelt Svalbard with rain , but 2,000 kilometers ( 1,245 miles ) out in southeast Greenland , it delivered snowfall — and lots of it . On March 14 , 11.6 billion tons of C. P. Snow fell on the ice sheet , with an extra 4.5 billion gross ton over the next few days . One gigaton of snow roughly equates to one cubic kilometer of fresh water , which could completely occupy the U.S. capitol establish more than 2,200 times .
The issue also covered the shabu bed sheet with unused , reflective snow , increasing the region ’s albedo ( its power to reflect sunlight ) and setting back seasonal ice evaporate by almost two weeks — despite 2022 ’s abnormally warm bound temperatures .
“ Sadly , the Greenland Ice Sheet wo n’t be hold open by atmospheric river , ” Hubbard said . “ But what we see in this new field of study is that , contrary to prevailing opinions , under the right condition , atmospheric rivers might not be all risky intelligence . ”
If global temperatures keep to rise , however , atmospheric river could one Clarence Day fetch rain instead of coke to Greenland . In fact , Hubbard and Bailey accent that more inquiry is require to understand both the current and succeeding impingement of atmospherical rivers on the Northern Hemisphere ’s largest ice plenty .
“ Atmospheric river have a double - edged role in shaping Greenland’s — as well as the all-embracing Arctic’s — time to come , ” Bailey concluded .
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