Large moulin on the surface of the Greenland ice sheet. Two recent studies of ice sheet motion and melting suggest that surface melting can produce dramatic drainage and seismic shifting on the Greenland Ice Sheet. But, surface melt that eventually lubricates the bottom of the ice sheet and accelerates its slide over bedrock may not be enough, by itself, to cause catastrophic loss of ice sheet mass. This research appeared in the 17 April 2008 issue of Science Express. Image courtesy of Science Google translation:

Berlingske Tidende
Friday 7 January 2011, 03:53 Even if we turned off all power stations and threw the keys to our car away, we would probably be unable to put a stop to it. No matter how much we turn down the CO2-burner, Greenland will still reach a significant turning point by around 2040, writes Berlingske Tidende. Subsequently, the melting of the island’s enormous quantities of ice will continue and continue and in principle not stop until most of the ice is gone. One can also say the opposite – that it will subsequently in a perspective that extends thousands of years ahead, not be possible for the vast Greenland ice sheet to reestablish itself and return to a contemporary level. It appears from a sensational international research results, based on data and model runs from the Danish Meteorological Institute. “It is a very troubling result, because it shows that the melting can go much stronger than we usually imagine,” says one of the article’s authors, Jens Hesselberg Christensen, Berlingske Tidende. He is the leader of Denmark’s Climate Center and lead author of the UN climate panel IPCC’s latest report on regional climate change. “Based on our model, I would almost argue that the time has already passed. Our results indicate in principle that continuous melting is inevitable,” says Jens Hesselberg. He insists however that the model will go a lot more than 1000 years before the Greenland ice sheet would be more or less rendered. A total meltdown of the ice cap will have the world’s oceans to rise with six to seven meters.

Grønlands afsmeltning synes ustoppelig