Greenland is probably going to contribute more and faster to sea level rise than predicted.
What it means right now is that Greenland is producing 20 percent of the sea rise. We think that contribution will increase from generation to generation.
The southern half of Greenland is reacting to what we think is climate warming. The northern half is waiting but I don't think it's going to take long.
In the future, as warming around Greenland progresses further north, we expect additional losses from northwest Greenland glaciers, which will then increase Greenland's contribution to sea level rise.
The Greenland ice sheet's contribution to sea level is an issue of considerable societal and scientific importance.
These findings call into question predictions of the future of Greenland in a warmer climate from computer models that do not include variations in glacier flow as a component of change. Actual changes will likely be much larger than predicted by these models.
It's likely that Greenland is going to contribute more and faster to rising sea levels than previously estimated.
The mass loss resulting from this glacier acceleration in Greenland is very significant. These are very active glaciers. They all end up in the ocean, discharge icebergs and are very dynamic. One you push them a little bit out of equilibrium, they start retreating very fast.