Nature Geosciences - Not Enough Satellite Data For Solid Long-Term Sea Rise Outlook From Greenland

[hatrack]

July 14, 2013 — The time period of satellite observations of the ice sheets of Greenland and the Antarctic is still too short to be able to say whether the accelerated loss of ice measured today will persist in the future. This is the result published today in the online edition of Nature Geosciences by a research team led by Bert Wouters from the University of Bristol. The GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences is also involved in the study. The researchers conclude that predictions of the contribution of both ice shields to the sea level up to the year 2100 may be more than 35 cm too high or too low.

The researchers analyzed nine years' worth of data from the gravity field satellite GRACE. The GRACE measurements showed that both ice sheets are losing significant amounts of ice -- about 300 billion tons per year. At the same time, the rate at with which these losses occur is increasing: The contribution of both ice shields to sea level rise in recent years has almost doubled when compared to the first years of the GRACE mission. The causes of this accelerated reduction in ice mass are still a challenge for scientists: In addition to anthropogenic warming, the ice sheets are influenced by a variety of natural processes, such as variations in snowfall and slow changes in ocean currents.

EDIT

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130714160610.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

[joshcryer]

1. Naw, it's going to magically stop.

[PuffedMica]

2. We know the world is warming for sure

[/font]
Burning fossil fuels is increasing the atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.

Increasing Carbon Dioxide is trapping heat

The Earth is warming from the trapped heat

Ice melts when it warms

Sea level will rise when ice on Greenland and Antarctica melts

We know this is happing, the satellites only confirm it