Greenhouse Emissions to add 15 inches to global sea level rise by 2100: NASA-led study

In accordance with the study “Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project (ISMIP6)” by NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland (United States) which has been done on the lines of the projection in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2019 Special Report on Oceans and the Cryosphere, there will be more than 38 centimetres (15 inches) rise in global sea-level rise by 2100 due to the melting of Greenland and Antarctica’s ice sheets driven by continuous greenhouse emissions.

• The results of the study are prepared through the collaborative study of more than 60 ice, ocean, and atmosphere scientists around the world, and are published in the special issue of the journal The Cryosphere.
• Ice scientist Sophie Nowick, State University of New York (University at Buffalo) was the project leader of this study.
• Notably, melt water from ice sheets contributes about a third of the total global sea-level rise where Greenland’s ice sheet is a significant contributor to sea-level rise.
• As per IPCC report projection, Greenland would contribute 8 to 27 cm (3.1 to 10.6 inches) to global sea-level rise between 2000-2100 and Antarctica could contribute 3 to 28 cm (1.2 to 11 inches).
• These new results will be informative for the 6th IPCC report scheduled for release in 2022.

Basis of Study:

The study was done on the basis of two different scenarios: one with carbon emissions increasing rapidly and another with lower emissions. Their results are as follows:

Greenland ice sheet

• In the high emissions scenario, they found that the Greenland ice sheet would lead to an additional global sea-level rise of about 9 cm (3.5 inches) by 2100.
• In the lower emissions scenario, the loss from the ice sheet would raise the global sea level by about 3 cm (1.3 inches).

Antarctic ice sheet

In case of Antarctic ice sheet change there can be a decrease in sea level by 7.8 cm to increase it by 30 cm by 2100, with different climate scenarios and climate model inputs.

• It should be noted that ice loss in the Antarctic ice sheet is more difficult to predict because in the west, warm ocean currents erode the bottom of large floating ice shelves, causing loss; while the vast East Antarctic ice sheet can gain mass, as warmer temperatures cause increased snowfall.

Key Findings:

–Warming air temperatures melting the surface of the ice sheet, and warming ocean temperatures causing ocean-terminating glaciers to retreat are the significant contributor to sea level rise.

–On the front of regional projections there will be greatest loss in West Antarctica with up to 18 cm of sea-level rise by 2100 in the warmest conditions.

• The Amundsen Sea region in West Antarctica and Wilkes Land in East Antarctica will continue to lose large amounts of ice.

Recent Related News:

1. On July 30, 2020, the United States’ (US) 5th Mars Mission “Mars 2020” initiated by NASA  after launching the biggest Mars rover named “Perseverance”, which was lifted off by United Launch

Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 541 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, United States (US).

1. On August 17, 2020, the government of the United Kingdom (UK) launched a £3 million “Innovation Challenge Fund2020” in India to support scientists in academia and industry to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.

About Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC):
It is the United Nations (UN) body for assessing the science related to climate change.
Chair– Dr. Hoesung Lee
Headquarter– Geneva, Switzerland

About National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA):
Administrator– James Frederick “Jim” Bridenstine 
Headquarter– Washington, D.C., United States (US)