New research shows that the Earth ‘s ice is melting faster today than it did in the 1990s.
It is estimated that 28 trillion metric tons of ice has melted away from the world’s sea ice, ice sheets and glaciers since the mid-1990s. The annual meltdown rate is now about 57 percent faster than it was 30 years ago. Scientists described the results in a study published in The Cryosphere.
“It was surprising to see such a huge increase in just 30 years,” said study co-author Thomas Slater. He is a geologist, a scientist who studies glaciers, at the University of Leeds in Britain.
Slater noted that the position of ice melting is clear to those who rely on mountain glaciers for drinking water. It is also clear to those who rely on winter sea ice to protect coastal homes from storms. But Slater noted that the world’s melting ice has now begun to be recognized even far from frozen fields.
“People recognize that even though the ice is far away, they will feel the effects of the melting,” he said.
The melting of land ice – on Antarctica, Greenland and mountain glaciers – added enough water to the ocean in the 30-year period to raise the average global sea level by 3.5 centimeters. Ice loss from mountain glaciers accounted for 22 per cent of ice loss numbers each year.
Across the Arctic, sea ice is also declining to new levels in summer. Last year saw the second lowest level of sea ice in more than 40 years. As sea ice melts, it seeks out dark water sunshine radiation, rather than expelling it from the atmosphere. This is called an Arctic expansion, which raises the temperature of the area even further.
Global atmospheric temperatures have risen by about 1.1 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. But in the Arctic, the rate of warming has more than doubled the global average in the last 30 years.
The team of British scientists studied satellite data from 1994-2017, used site measurements and created computer models to measure ice melting. They found that the world lost an average of 0.8 trillion metric tons of ice per year in the 1990s. In the last few years, the team estimated a loss of about 1.2 trillion metric tons per year.
Gabriel Wolken is a geologist with the Alaska Department of Geological and Geophysical Studies. He said it is very interesting to find even a complete loss of ice from the ice forms of the world approachand it is desperately needed. ”
Wolken co-authored the Arctic 2020 Report Card released in December, but was not involved in the new study.
He said people in Alaska are well aware of the loss of glacial ice. “You can see the changes with the human eye,” he said.
My name is Jonathan Evans.
Yereth Rosen reported this story for the Reuters news service. Jonathan Evans adapted this story for Learning English. The editor was Bryan Lynn.
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Words in this story
expansion – n. action, example or result of doing something higher by increasing its strength
approach – n. way of dealing with something : way of doing or thinking
glacier – n. a large area of ice that moves slowly down a slope or valley or over a wide area of land
sunshine – adj. of or related to the sun