Even if the entire world stopped burning fossil fuels today, a new study finds that the Greenland ice sheet would still lose so much ice that it would add nearly a foot to rising sea levels.
Melting over the past century has altered the ice sheet's equilibrium, according to the study led by two glaciologists at the National Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. For the ice sheet to correct that imbalance, it will lose an estimated 100 trillion tons of ice, adding at least 10.8 inches to global average sea levels.
That’s “a very conservative rock-bottom minimum,” said Jason Box, a glaciology professor with Denmark's geological survey.
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Greenland's contribution to sea-level rise could be more than 2 feet over a century if the pace of warming continues, the authors reported in the journal "Nature Climate Change," although the study did not attach specific time frames.
Many countries pledged to hold the line on emissions to keep rising global average temperatures in check during the 2015 Paris climate change agreement, but it could take decades for the world to reach net zero emissions.
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