PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Analysis of speed of Greenland glaciers gives new insight for rising sea level

Researchers determine that although glaciers continue to increase in velocity, the rate at which they can dump ice into the ocean is limited

Analysis of speed of Greenland glaciers gives new insight for rising sea level
2012-05-08
(Press-News.org) Changes in the speed that ice travels in more than 200 outlet glaciers indicates that Greenland's contribution to rising sea level in the 21st century could be significantly less than the upper limits some scientists thought possible.

The finding comes from a paper funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA and published in today's journal Science.

While the study indicates that a melting Greenland's contributions to rising sea levels could be less than expected, researchers concede that more work needs to be done before any definitive trend can be identified.

Studies like this one are designed to examine more closely and in greater detail what is actually happening with the ice sheets, often using newer and more precise tools and thereby better defining the parameters that scientists use to make predictions, such as the upper limits of sea-level rise.

"This study provides more evidence that the rate at which these glaciers can dump ice into the ocean is indeed limited," said Ian Howat, assistant professor of Earth sciences and member of the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University, a co-author on the paper. "What remains to be seen is how long the acceleration will continue--but it appears that our worst-case scenarios aren't likely."

The fate of the Earth's ice sheets and their potential contributions to sea-level rise as the globe warms are among the major scientific uncertainties cited in the Fourth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This is in part because the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have historically been, and in large measure continue to be, relatively sparsely monitored, as compared to other parts of the globe.

The faster the glaciers move, the more ice and melt water they release into the ocean.

In previous studies, scientists trying to understand the contribution of melting ice to rising sea level in a warming world considered a scenario in which the Greenland glaciers would either double or increase by as much as ten-fold their velocity between 2000 and 2010 and then stabilize at the higher speed.

This new study shows Greenland ice would likely move at the lower rate--a doubling of its speed--and contribute about four inches to rising sea level by 2100. The previous studies used the higher speed and estimated the glaciers would contribute nearly 19 inches by the end of this century.

In the new study, the scientists extracted a decade-long record of changes in Greenland outlet glaciers by producing velocity maps using data from the Canadian Space Agency's Radarsat-1 satellite, Germany's TerraSar-X satellite and Japan's Advanced Land Observation Satellite. They started with the winter of 2000-01 and then repeated the process for each winter from 2005-06 through 2010-11 and found that the outlet glaciers had not increased in velocity as much as had been speculated.

"So far, on average we're seeing about a 30 percent speedup in 10 years [of Greenland glaciers, which gives new insight for rising sea level]," said Twila Moon, a University of Washington doctoral student in Earth and space sciences and lead author of the paper documenting the observations.

"This study is a great example of the power of high-resolution data sets in both space and time, and the importance of looking carefully at as much data as possible in helping make the best predictions we can of future changes", said Henrietta Edmonds, program director for Arctic Natural Sciences in NSF's Office of Polar Programs.

The scientists saw no clear indication in the new research that the glaciers will stop gaining speed during the rest of the century, and so by 2100 they could reach or exceed the scenario in which they contribute four inches to sea level rise.

The record showed a complex pattern of behavior. Nearly all of Greenland's largest glaciers that end on land move at top speeds of 30 to 325 feet a year, and their changes in speed are small because they are already moving slowly. Glaciers that terminate in fjord ice shelves move at 1,000 feet to a mile a year, but didn't gain speed appreciably during the decade.

In the East, Southeast and Northwest areas of Greenland, glaciers that end in the ocean can travel seven miles or more in a year. Their changes in speed varied (some even slowed), but on average the speeds increased by 28 percent in the Northwest and 32 percent in the Southeast during the decade.

Moon said she was drawn to the research from a desire to take the large store of data available from the satellites and put it into a usable form to understand what is happening to Greenland's ice. "We don't have a really good handle on it and we need to have that if we're going to understand the effects of climate change," she said. "We are going to need to continue to look at all of the ice sheet to see how it's changing, and we are going to need to continue to work on some tough details to understand how individual glaciers change."

INFORMATION:

-NSF-

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Analysis of speed of Greenland glaciers gives new insight for rising sea level

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Addrenaline Media's First National TV Spot Begins Airing on CBC Today

2012-05-08
Addrenaline Media (www.addrenaline.ca) is excited to announce it has produced and directed a television ad for Enviro Paving that will air nationally on CBC television. Production of the ad saw Addrenaline's Kyle Hosick travel to Montreal and Calgary to film franchise owners from across Canada. Titled "Don't Tear It Out" the commercial showcases a number of franchisees and the work that Enviro Paving does. Enviro Paving is a unique paving alternative that uses 100% recycled rubber tires.Addrenaline will be entering the commercial production space with a refreshing ...

Hmusix - Life 4 Music

Hmusix - Life 4 Music
2012-05-08
Hmusix is a new project, born by the desire to provide a unique music information service from all directions, in which users have the possibility to catch the latest news of their favourite artists practically in real time thanks to a large network of collaborators and bloggers from all over the world. The information on Hmusix is constantly updated and is available to all our registered users. Our aim is to provide the latest news before any of our already existing competitors. Hmusix uses a series of servers located in various parts of the world. This allows users ...

Sequencing works in clinical setting to help -- finally -- get a diagnosis

2012-05-08
DURHAM, N.C. -- Advanced high-speed gene-sequencing has been used in the clinical setting to find diagnoses for seven children out of a dozen who were experiencing developmental delays and congenital abnormalities for mysterious reasons. "I thought if we could obtain even a couple of relatively secure diagnoses out of the 12 patients, that would prove the value of deploying sequencing approaches systematically in patients with unknown but apparently genetic conditions," said David Goldstein, Ph.D., director of the Duke Center for Human Genome Variation and professor ...

Long commutes may be hazardous to health

2012-05-08
San Diego, CA, May 8, 2012 – As populations move even further away from urban centers, more people spend longer hours behind the wheel on their way to and from work. While sedentary behavior is known to have adverse effects on cardiovascular and metabolic health, the impact of long commutes by automobile are less understood. A new study has found that greater commuting distances are associated with decreased cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), increased weight, and other indicators of metabolic risk. The results are published in the June issue of American Journal of Preventive ...

Gene Signal presents data at ARVO 2012 showing topical aganirsen is active in retinal disease

2012-05-08
Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA and Lausanne, Switzerland, May 8, 2012 – Gene Signal, a company focused on developing innovative drugs to manage angiogenesis based conditions, today announced that positive data from a study of aganirsen (GS-101, eye drops) in a nonhuman primate model of choroidal neovascularization has been presented at the 2012 ARVO Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Topical administration of aganirsen was found to inhibit neovascular growth and leakage in this model and strongly suggests a role for the drug candidate in human retinal neovascular diseases ...

The Auburn Tiger trapdoor spider -- a new species discovered from a college town backyard

2012-05-08
Researchers at Auburn University have reported the discovery a new trapdoor spider species from a well-developed housing subdivision in the heart of the city of Auburn, Alabama. Myrmekiaphila tigris, affectionately referred to as the Auburn Tiger Trapdoor spider, is named in honor of Auburn University's costumed Tiger mascot, Aubie. The research team, directed by Biological Sciences professor Jason Bond, lead investigator and director of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, and Charles Ray, a research fellow in the Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, ...

BedBug Chasers Franchises its Bed Bug Killing Business

2012-05-08
BedBug Chasers, a World Class provider of heat remediation services and manufacturer of US made bed bug heat remediation equipment is franchising its service business. The business features a low entry cost, is a 100% chemical free and Green enterprise, and will be offered through the BedBug Chaser Franchise Corporation. The cornerstones of this booming franchise program features exclusive access to the patented BedBug Chaser heaters, the BedBug Chasers nationwide rental fleet and training on the BedBug Chasers propriety process. The BedBug Chaser heaters have proven ...

H1N1 discovery paves way for universal flu vaccine: UBC research

2012-05-08
University of British Columbia researchers have found a potential way to develop universal flu vaccines and eliminate the need for seasonal flu vaccinations. Each year, seasonal influenza causes serious illnesses in three to five million people and 200,000 to 500,000 deaths. The 2009 H1N1 pandemic killed more than 14,000 people worldwide. Meanwhile, public health and bioterrorism concerns are heightened by new mutations of the H5N1 "bird flu" virus, published last week by the journal Nature, that could facilitate infection among mammals and humans. Led by Prof. John ...

Ad Agency Focuses Attention on Helping Wine Makers and Vineyards Stand Out

2012-05-08
Creatage, a full service marketing agency has started developing specialized marketing plans and tactics for vineyards and the wine making community. According to Creatage's spokesperson, the agency has been helping these industries in capturing and retaining audiences in new and interesting ways through wine marketing tactics that have recently seen great success in this area. To take advantage of this new service you simply need to fill out a contact from on their company's website and a representative will discuss the next steps to see how Creatage can develop a customize ...

Stubb's Bar-B-Q Spices Up the Grocery Aisle

2012-05-08
Stubb's Legendary Kitchen, makers of all-natural, premium Stubb's Bar-B-Q sauces, rubs and marinades, is expanding its product line throughout 2012 to include a new sweet and spicy sauce flavor, new injectable marinades and a reformulated premium spice rub line. The items reflect some of 2012's top food trends: --Sweet and spicy: Combining two favorite tastes in one delicious sauce, Stubb's Sweet Heat is a combination of molasses and brown sugar with a touch of chipotle. Sweet Heat is the newest addition to the Stubb's all-natural sauce lineup that includes Original, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Thirty-year mystery of dissonance in the “ringing” of black holes explained

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate

Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative

Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine

[Press-News.org] Analysis of speed of Greenland glaciers gives new insight for rising sea level
Researchers determine that although glaciers continue to increase in velocity, the rate at which they can dump ice into the ocean is limited