scholarly journals Sea-level rise: Which is the role of glaciers and polar ice sheets?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco José Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
First Century ◽  
Extreme Wave ◽  
Polar Ice ◽  
Special Report ◽  
Polar Ice Sheets ◽  
Wave Heights

Sea-level has been rising at an accelerated rate during recent decades and is projected to continue increasing at an accelerated rate over the twenty-first century and beyond, mostly as a result of anthropogenic warming. A substantially raised sea level can have severe impacts on low-lying coastal areas, including coastal erosion and flooding of inhabited areas. Under continued climate warming, these impacts will be exacerbated by extreme meteorological events and extreme wave heights, posing severe risks to the human communities and coastal ecosystems. In this paper we review the recent advances on the contributions of glaciers and sheets to sea-level rise, in the light of the recently released IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.

New Space Observation of the Global Cryosphere

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhitong Yu ◽  
Luojia Hu ◽  
Yan Huang ◽  
Rong Ma ◽  
Peng Xiao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Dynamic Monitoring ◽  
Observation System ◽  
Polar Ice ◽  
Polar Ice Sheets ◽  
New Space ◽  
Wide Swath

<p>Quantifying changes in Earth’s ice sheets and identifying the climate drivers are central to improving sea level projections. But it is a pity that the future sea level is difficult to predicted. Space observation can provide global multiscale long-term continuous monitoring data. And it is very important for understanding intrinsic mechanisms, improve models and projections and analyze the impacts on human civilization.</p><p>Several satellites are applied for Global Cryosphere Watch, including sea ice extent and concentration, ice sheet elevation, glacier area and velocity. Although there are many variable can be measured by satellite sensors. But several variables need to improve the observing capability and developing new methods. Such as snow depth on ice, ice sheets thickness, and permafrost parameters. China has established high-resolution earth observation system to realize stereopsis and dynamic monitoring of the lands, the oceans and the atmosphere.</p><p>Currently, Qian Xuesen Laboratory working together with Sun Yat-sen University, is trying to design a new space observation system to support Three Poles Environment and Climate Changes project. We are conceptualizing two series satellites including FluxSats and BingSats for carbon/water cycle and cryosphere observations, respectively. To clarify the mechanism of the cryosphere carbon release and carbon sink effects of the oceans and ecosystems. We are developing a new lidar system for detecting the concentration and wind speed, and then atmospheric boundary layer flux exchange can be estimated. To understand the rapid change of the sea ice, such as drift, fragmentation and freeze. We need a short revisit and wide swath system capabilities. InSAR technology gives the digitial elevation of the ice surface. And temporal difference InSAR (DInSAR) shows the changes of elevation. BingSAT-Tomographic Observation of Polar Ice Sheets (TOPIS) achieves the tomographic observation of polar ice sheets with a wide swath and short revisit time. Over the polar regions, the CubeSats form a large cross-track baseline with the master satellite to realize the high two-dimensional spatial resolution with the along-track synthetic aperture. The MirrorSAR technology is utilized in BingSat-TOPIS to achieve time and phase synchronization more economically than the traditional bistatic radar. Sparse array and digital beamforming are also considered to significantly reduce the number of microsatellites, and achieve tomographic images of polar ice sheets.</p>

Recent developments in modeling ice sheet deformation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicity McCormack ◽  
Roland Warner ◽  
Adam Treverrow ◽  
Helene Seroussi
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Vertical Shear ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Polar Ice ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Polar Ice Sheets ◽  
Basal Shear ◽  
The Impact

<p>Viscous deformation is the main process controlling ice flow in ice shelves and in slow-moving regions of polar ice sheets where ice is frozen to the bed. However, the role of deformation in flow in ice streams and fast-flowing regions is typically poorly represented in ice sheet models due to a major limitation in the current standard flow relation used in most large-scale ice sheet models – the Glen flow relation – which does not capture the steady-state flow of anisotropic ice that prevails in polar ice sheets. Here, we highlight recent advances in modeling deformation in the Ice Sheet System Model using the ESTAR (empirical, scalar, tertiary, anisotropic regime) flow relation – a new description of deformation that takes into account the impact of different types of stresses on the deformation rate. We contrast the influence of the ESTAR and Glen flow relations on the role of deformation in the dynamics of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica, using diagnostic simulations. We find key differences in: (1) the slow-flowing interior of the catchment where the unenhanced Glen flow relation simulates unphysical basal sliding; (2) over the floating Thwaites Glacier Tongue where the ESTAR flow relation outperforms the Glen flow relation in accounting for tertiary creep and the spatial differences in deformation rates inherent to ice anisotropy; and (3) in the grounded region within 80km of the grounding line where the ESTAR flow relation locally predicts up to three times more vertical shear deformation than the unenhanced Glen flow relation, from a combination of enhanced vertical shear flow and differences in the distribution of basal shear stresses. More broadly on grounded ice, the membrane stresses are found to play a key role in the patterns in basal shear stresses and the balance between basal shear stresses and gravitational forces simulated by each of the ESTAR and Glen flow relations. Our results have implications for the suitability of ice flow relations used to constrain uncertainty in reconstructions and projections of global sea levels, warranting further investigation into using the ESTAR flow relation in transient simulations of glacier and ice sheet dynamics. We conclude by discussing how geophysical data might be used to provide insight into the relationship between ice flow processes as captured by the ESTAR flow relation and ice fabric anisotropy.</p>

Sea-level rise and its possible impacts given a ‘beyond 4°C world’ in the twenty-first century

2011 ◽  
Vol 369 (1934) ◽  
pp. 161-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Nicholls ◽  
Natasha Marinova ◽  
Jason A. Lowe ◽  
Sally Brown ◽  
Pier Vellinga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Temperature Rise ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
First Century ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Impact

The range of future climate-induced sea-level rise remains highly uncertain with continued concern that large increases in the twenty-first century cannot be ruled out. The biggest source of uncertainty is the response of the large ice sheets of Greenland and west Antarctica. Based on our analysis, a pragmatic estimate of sea-level rise by 2100, for a temperature rise of 4°C or more over the same time frame, is between 0.5 m and 2 m—the probability of rises at the high end is judged to be very low, but of unquantifiable probability. However, if realized, an indicative analysis shows that the impact potential is severe, with the real risk of the forced displacement of up to 187 million people over the century (up to 2.4% of global population). This is potentially avoidable by widespread upgrade of protection, albeit rather costly with up to 0.02 per cent of global domestic product needed, and much higher in certain nations. The likelihood of protection being successfully implemented varies between regions, and is lowest in small islands, Africa and parts of Asia, and hence these regions are the most likely to see coastal abandonment. To respond to these challenges, a multi-track approach is required, which would also be appropriate if a temperature rise of less than 4°C was expected. Firstly, we should monitor sea level to detect any significant accelerations in the rate of rise in a timely manner. Secondly, we need to improve our understanding of the climate-induced processes that could contribute to rapid sea-level rise, especially the role of the two major ice sheets, to produce better models that quantify the likely future rise more precisely. Finally, responses need to be carefully considered via a combination of climate mitigation to reduce the rise and adaptation for the residual rise in sea level. In particular, long-term strategic adaptation plans for the full range of possible sea-level rise (and other change) need to be widely developed.

A global synthesis of the latest Ordovician Hirnantian brachiopod faunas

1988 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Jia-yu ◽  
David A. T. Harper
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
North America ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Polar Ice ◽  
Low Diversity ◽  
Polar Ice Sheets ◽  
Ecological Associations ◽  
Anticosti Island ◽  
Existing Data

ABSTRACTA global review of new and existing data on the distribution of uppermost Ordovician (Hirnantian) brachiopods indicates the existence of at least three biogeographically distinct faunas. The typical Hirnantia fauna characterised subtropical and temperate latitudes and comprised a variety of ecological associations; the fauna reached its acme during the bohemicus and uniformis zones. Atypical Hirnantia faunas, developed marginal to Gondwana, are of low diversity and have few species in common with the typical Hirnantia fauna; their spatial distribution probably marked the margin of the polar ice sheets. The extinction of the Hirnantia fauna occurred in response to changes in sea level. Diverse and quite different faunas, including those from the Midcontinent of North America, Kolyma, the Oslo Region and probably Anticosti Island, occupied equatorial latitudes during the latest Ordovician. The Holorhynchus fauna, on evidence to date, predates the Hirnantia fauna.

Recent mass balance of polar ice sheets inferred from patterns of global sea-level change

Nature ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 409 (6823) ◽  
pp. 1026-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry X. Mitrovica ◽  
Mark E. Tamisiea ◽  
James L. Davis ◽  
Glenn A. Milne
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Sea Level Change ◽  
Polar Ice ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Polar Ice Sheets ◽  
Global Sea Level

scholarly journals Representative surface snow density on the East Antarctic Plateau

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander H. Weinhart ◽  
Johannes Freitag ◽  
Maria Hörhold ◽  
Sepp Kipfstuhl ◽  
Olaf Eisen
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Surface Mass Balance ◽  
Snow Density ◽  
Polar Ice ◽  
Surface Mass ◽  
Antarctic Plateau ◽  
Surface Snow ◽  
Polar Ice Sheets

Abstract. Surface mass balance estimates of polar ice sheets are essential to estimate the contribution of ice sheets to sea level rise, in response global warming. One of the largest uncertainties in the interior regions of the ice sheets, such as the East Antarctic Plateau (EAP), is the determination of a precise surface snow density. Wrong estimates of snow and firn density can lead to significant underestimations of the surface mass balance. We present density data from snow profiles taken along an overland traverse in austral summer 2016/17 covering over 2000 km on the Dronning Maud Land plateau. The sampling strategy included investigation on various spatial scales, from regional to local, with sampling locations 100 km apart as well as a high-resolution study in a trench at 30° E 79° S with thirty 3 m deep snow profiles. Density of the surface snow profiles has been measured volumetrically as well as using μ-computer tomography. With an error of less than 2 %, the volumetric liner density provides higher precision than other sampling devices of smaller volume. With four spatially independent snow profiles per location we derive a representative and precise 1 m mean snow density with an error of less than 1.5 %. The average liner density along the traverse across the EAP is 355 kg m−3, which we identify as representative surface snow density between Kohnen station and Dome Fuji. The highest horizontal variability in density can be seen in the upper 0.3 m. Therefore, we do not recommend vertical sampling in intervals of less than several decimeters, as this does neither adequately cover seasonal variations in high accumulation areas nor the annual accumulation in low accumulation areas. From statistical analysis of the liner density on regional scale we identify representative spatial distributions of density based on geographical and thus climatic conditions. Our representative density of 355 kg m−3 is considerably different from the density of 320 kg m−3 provided by a regional climate model. This difference of more than 10 % indicates the necessity for further calibration of density parameterizations. The difference in the total mass equivalent of measured and modelled density yields a 3 % underestimation by models, which translates into 5 cm sea level equivalent. We do not find a statistically significant temporal trend in density changes over the last two decades. Our data provide a solid baseline for tuning parameterizations of the surface snow density for regions with low accumulation and low temperatures like the EAP to improve surface mass balance estimates of polar ice sheets.

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