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https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/record-melt-greenland-lost-586-billion-tons-ice-2019-rcna91
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After two years when summer ice melt had been minimal, last summer
shattered all records, according to satellite measurements reported in a
study Thursday.
Greenland lost a record amount of ice during an extra warm 2019, with
the melt massive enough to cover California in more than four feet (1.25
meters) of water, a new study said.
After two years when summer ice melt had been minimal, last summer
shattered all records with 586 billion tons (532 billion metric tons) of
ice melting, according to satellite measurements reported in a study
Thursday. That’s more than 140 trillion gallons (532 trillion liters) of
water.
That’s far more than the yearly average loss of 259 billion tons (235
billion metric tons) since 2003 and easily surpasses the old record of
511 billion tons (464 billion metric tons) in 2012, said a study in
Communications Earth & Environment. The study showed that in the 20th
century, there were many years when Greenland gained ice.
“Not only is the Greenland ice sheet melting, but it’s melting at a
faster and faster pace,” said study lead author Ingo Sasgen, a
geoscientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany.Last year’s
Greenland melt added 0.06 inches (1.5 millimeters) to global sea level
rise. That sounds like a tiny amount but “in our world it’s huge, that’s
astounding,” said study co-author Alex Gardner, a NASA ice scientist.
Add in more water from melting in other ice sheets and glaciers, along
with an ocean that expands as it warms — and that translates into slowly
rising sea levels, coastal flooding and other problems, he said.
While general ice melt records in Greenland go back to 1948, scientists
since 2003 have had precise records on how much ice melts because NASA
satellites measure the gravity of the ice sheets. That’s the equivalent
of putting the ice on a scale and weighing it as water flows off,
Gardner said.
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