Greg etal Because this paper is behind a paywall, I can barely glean from their figures that they may be looking at a fifty year time horizon. Did they look at all at either SRM or CDR when using the term “irreversibility? (quotes in the original - why?)
Ron On Jan 14, 2014, at 12:43 PM, Greg Rau <[email protected]> wrote: > http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/01/13-2 > Antarctic Glacier's 'Irreversible' Melting Threatens 'Considerable Increase' > to Sea Level Rise > New study on Pine Island Glacier shows 'striking vision of the near future,' > says co-author > - Andrea Germanos, staff writer > An Antarctic glacier is melting "irreversibly," offering "a striking vision > of the near future," a new study shows. > The study published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change looked at > Pine Island Glacier, the largest single contributor to sea-level rise in the > Antarctic. > The team of scientists used three ice flow models to look at the glacier's > grounding line, which separates the grounded ice sheet from the floating ice > shelf. > The grounding line, which has already retreated by about 10 kilometers in the > last decade, "is probably engaged in an unstable 40 kilometer retreat," the > study finds. > The glacier "has started a phase of self-sustained retreat and will > irreversibly continue its decline," said Gael Durand, a glaciologist with > France's Grenoble Alps University and study co-author. > Durand says the findings show "a striking vision of the near future. All the > models suggest that [the glacier's] recession will not stop, cannot be > reversed and that more ice will be transferred into the ocean.” > Agence France-Presse adds: > A massive river of ice, the glacier by itself is responsible for 20 per cent > of total ice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet today. > On average, it shed 20 billion tonnes of ice annually from 1992-2011, a loss > that is likely to increase up to and above 100 billion tonnes each year, said > the study. > "The Pine Island Glacier shows the biggest changes in this area at the > moment, but if it is unstable it may have implications for the entire West > Antarctic Ice Sheet," Planet Earth Online reports study co-author G. Hilmar > Gudmundsson from the National Environment Research Council's British > Antarctic Survey as saying. > "Currently we see around two millimeters of sea level rise a year, and the > Pine Island Glacier retreat could contribute an additional 3.5 - 5 > millimeters in the next twenty years, so it would lead to a considerable > increase from this area alone. But the potential is much larger," Gudmundsson > warned. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
