Sky-High Melting Menace: Atmospheric Rivers Linked to Melting Greenland Ice Sheet

transport moisture away from the tropics to other parts of the globe. They are a necessary part of the global weather cycle and can bring needed rains to drought-stricken areas. But they can also contribute to dangerous flooding.

Greenland is covered by a 3,000-meter thick ice sheet that contains enough water to raise sea levels by 7 meters, or 23 feet. For millennia, it has played a major role in regulating Earth’s temperature and climate, but that stability is at risk due to climate change. According to Mattingly, these warming conditions are amplified over the northeast Greenland ice stream, an area of fast-moving ice that extends far into the interior and drains a huge chunk of the ice sheet into the ocean. The increase of warm air conditions from atmospheric rivers results in meltwater pools and rivers that absorb more sunlight than the nearby glacier.

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Greenland Ice Sheet melting faster than previously thought, scientists sayScientists have determined that in the last 10 to 20 years of steady global warming, the ocean has played an 'important role' in the evolution of glaciers, Eric Rignot, professor of system science at the University of California, Irvine, and author of the study, told ABC News. Melting at the interface between ice sheets and the ocean in the Arctic is much more extensive than previously estimated, according to a study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. What is happening at the grounding line -- the junction between a grounded ice sheet and the ocean -- led the researchers to discover much more melting that previously thought at Petermann Glacier in Greenland, according to the paper.
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