Share this on social media
Faster Greenland ice melt could be unstoppable
(Climate News Network, 24 May 2021) A rapid thaw could destroy a whole ice sheet if the faster Greenland ice melt scientists have found spreads across the island.
Researchers say the faster Greenland ice melt affecting part of the island could mean a large area is on the verge of irreversible loss. Their new study shows that the central western region of the ice sheet is near what climate scientists call “a tipping point.”
That is, once the ice starts to slide away, most of it will tip into the sea, to raise global sea levels and potentially to trigger the collapse of the great Atlantic Ocean current that enhances the climate of north-west Europe.
“We have found evidence that the central western part of the Greenland ice sheet has been destabilising and is now close to a critical transition,” said Niklas Boers, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “Our results suggest there will be substantially enhanced melting in the future − which is quite worrying.”
Dr Boers and his colleague Martin Rypdal of the Arctic University of Norway report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they looked at data since 1880 of melt rates and ice-sheet altitude shifts of a region called the Jakobshavn basin in the central western region of the northern hemisphere’s biggest single block of ice − a block big enough to raise global sea levels by seven metres, were it all to melt.
External link
Climate News Network, 24 May 2021: Faster Greenland ice melt could be unstoppable
21 Mar 2023: The latest IPCC report makes it clear no new fossil fuel projects can be opened. That includes us, Australia
20 Mar 2023: Scientists deliver ‘final warning’ on climate crisis: act now or it’s too late
10 Mar 2023: Think Sunak’s anti-refugee stance is bad? Just wait till the climate crisis truly ravages poorer countries
9 Mar 2023: Chinese cities hit record high temperatures for early March
3 Mar 2023: CO2 emissions may be starting to plateau, says global energy watchdog
24 Feb 2023: The American climate migration has already begun
21 Feb 2023: China’s would-be parents and their climate concerns
21 Feb 2023: What’s a climate ‘Doom Loop?’ These researchers fear we’re heading into one
16 Feb 2023: World risks descending into a climate ‘doom loop’, warn thinktanks
14 Feb 2023: Climate refugee crisis has landed on Europe’s shores – and we are far from ready
3 Feb 2023: Jordan Peterson’s ‘zombie’ climate contrarianism follows a well-worn path
31 Jan 2023: Earth is on track to exceed 1.5C warming in the next decade, study using AI finds
24 Jan 2023: Extreme warming ahead even as worst-case scenarios grow ‘obsolete’
20 Jan 2023: The climate crisis threatens economic stability – why are central bankers divided?
20 Jan 2023: ‘Ridiculous’: Greta Thunberg blasts decision to let UAE oil boss chair climate talks
20 Jan 2023: ‘Super-tipping points’ could trigger cascade of climate action
13 Jan 2023: Warm 2022 makes the past eight years hottest ever recorded
13 Jan 2023: Exxon Accurately Predicted Global Warming, Years Before Casting Doubt on Climate Science
12 Jan 2023: UK could face ‘banking crisis worse than 2008’ if City fails to prepare for fossil fuel collapse
20 Dec 2022: UK's Rwanda asylum plan criticised for ignoring climate threats
20 Dec 2022: Here's how Asia Pacific's biggest cities might look in 2100
19 Dec 2022: Climate goal of 1.5C is ‘gasping for breath’, says UN head
12 Dec 2022: Finding the antidote to climate anxiety in stories about taking action
8 Dec 2022: Which countries are ‘particularly vulnerable’ to climate change?
24 Nov 2022: Over 20,000 died in western Europe’s summer heatwaves, figures show
22 Nov 2022: How should we think about the end of the world as we know it?
18 Nov 2022: Future costs of emissions three times higher than assumed, finds study
11 Nov 2022: Carbon emissions from fossil fuels will hit record high in 2022
4 Nov 2022: World ‘sliding from climate crisis to climate disaster’
3 Nov 2022: Fossil fuel burning once caused a mass extinction – now we’re risking another
3 Nov 2022: Europe warmed twice as much as global average in last three decades: report
1 Nov 2022: Brazil election: Lula victory raises hope for Amazon rainforest
31 Oct 2022: How climate change influences temperatures in 1,000 cities around the world
28 Oct 2022: How the climate crisis is threatening power supply stability
27 Oct 2022: ‘Turning point’ as IEA sees fossil fuels peaking for the first time
27 Oct 2022: World close to ‘irreversible’ climate breakdown, warn major studies
24 Oct 2022: Climate crisis poses ‘growing threat’ to health in UK, says expert
21 Oct 2022: Germany increases climate finance to poorer nations to €5.3 billion
20 Oct 2022: ‘Nature is striking back’: flooding around the world, from Australia to Venezuela
14 Oct 2022: Funds for Pakistan flood relief come too little, too late
14 Oct 2022: Sea-level rise ‘may cross two metres by 2100’
11 Oct 2022: Greta Thunberg on the climate delusion: ‘We’ve been greenwashed out of our senses. It’s time to stand our ground’
11 Oct 2022: Greta Thunberg on the climate delusion: ‘We’ve been greenwashed out of our senses. It’s time to stand our ground’
7 Oct 2022: Energy crisis? It isn’t that we have too little oil and gas. It’s that we have too much
3 Oct 2022: Mobile homes, the last affordable housing option for many California residents, are going up in smoke
29 Sep 2022: Corporate pushback against climate action is getting desperate
29 Sep 2022: No room to cut: Rising inflation traps Bangladesh climate migrants
26 Sep 2022: Will Iran's climate inaction fuel rising disaster threats?
23 Sep 2022: How could positive 'tipping points' accelerate climate action?
20 Sep 2022: Iraq's political stalemate pushes climate action to backseat
20 Sep 2022: As climate 'tipping points' near, scientists plan for the unthinkable
20 Sep 2022: Four in 10 people don't want to have children as climate anxiety reaches record levels
19 Sep 2022: Burning world’s fossil fuel reserves could emit 3.5tn tons of greenhouse gas
16 Sep 2022: Extreme hunger soaring in world’s climate hotspots, says Oxfam
16 Sep 2022: Reasons for (cautious) optimism: the good news on the climate crisis
12 Sep 2022: Why we should forget about the 1.5C global heating target
9 Sep 2022: World on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points, study finds
6 Sep 2022: Rich countries caused Pakistan’s catastrophic flooding. Their response? Inertia and apathy
5 Sep 2022: Catastrophe, pollution, dirty subsidies and nature capitalism: another week in the climate crisis
2 Sep 2022: Scientists again call for civil disobedience to spur climate action, saying ‘time is short’
30 Aug 2022: Pakistan floods: plea for help amid fears monsoon could put a third of country underwater
30 Aug 2022: Scientists call on colleagues to protest climate crisis with civil disobedience
26 Aug 2022: Half of year will be ‘dangerously hot’ in tropics by 2100, research shows
29 Jul 2022: Climate breakdown made UK heatwave 10 times more likely, study finds
21 Jul 2022: Portugal reports more than 1,000 heat-related deaths
21 Jul 2022: Climate change is creating hotter days, says Dutch scientist
19 Jul 2022: EU to buy forest firefighting planes as climate crises intensify
19 Jul 2022: Fires in South-West France spiral out of control
19 Jul 2022: This heatwave has eviscerated the idea that small changes can tackle extreme weather
15 Jul 2022: As Europe bakes in heatwave, wildfires rage from Portugal to Croatia
12 Jul 2022: Temperatures to exceed 44C in some Spanish cities
8 Jul 2022: Rising heat drives crippling sandstorms across the Middle East
5 Jul 2022: Spain and Portugal suffering driest climate for 1,200 years, research shows
5 Jul 2022: Draghi points finger at climate change following Marmolada disaster
29 Jun 2022: Climate change is driving 2022 extreme heat and flooding
28 Jun 2022: Climate change role clear in many extreme events but social factors also key, study finds
20 Jun 2022: Western Europeans pant in early summer heatwave compounding climate change fears
10 Jun 2022: Indian workers suffer as heat waves turn factories into 'furnaces'
9 Jun 2022: ‘Gold rush’ for gas production threatens to lock in global heating
3 Jun 2022: Global heating is turning white Alps green, study finds
2 Jun 2022: Current policies will bring ‘catastrophic’ climate breakdown, warn former UN leaders
24 May 2022: Millions at risk as India's severe heatwave exposes cooling gaps
24 May 2022: Explainer: APAC at 1.5°C of global warming
24 May 2022: Deadly Indian heatwave made 30 times more likely by climate crisis
17 May 2022: We need optimism – but Disneyfied climate predictions are just dangerous
16 May 2022: Poor workers bear the brunt of India's heatwave
13 May 2022: John Kerry warns a long Ukraine war would threaten climate efforts
10 May 2022: Climate limit of 1.5C close to being broken, scientists warn
10 May 2022: 'Bad boys' are back: India doubles down on coal as heatwave worsens power crisis
9 May 2022: Climate disasters drive Bangladesh children from classrooms to work
6 May 2022: Extreme heat kills at least 25 in India's Maharashtra state
5 May 2022: 'Surprise' urban Malaysia floods drive pleas for climate action
3 May 2022: Flood and cyclone-prone areas in eastern Australia may be ‘uninsurable’ by 2030, report suggests
25 Apr 2022: Warming in Europe reached 2°C on average in 2021, EU data shows
22 Apr 2022: Google doodle marks Earth Day 2022 with stark images of climate crisis
22 Apr 2022: War in Ukraine is triggering a food crisis – and climate change has more in store
12 Apr 2022: ‘I was enjoying a life that was ruining the world’: can therapy treat climate anxiety?
29 Mar 2022: Insurers could have been climate heroes. Instead, they have risked a crisis to dwarf 2008
25 Mar 2022: UN to roll out global early-warning systems for extreme weather
18 Mar 2022: UK Research and Innovation report outlines key priorities for climate change adaptation
8 Mar 2022: Drying Amazon rainforest closer to 'tipping point', scientists warn
3 Mar 2022: Half a million Australians face flood evacuation orders
1 Mar 2022: California debates naming heatwaves to underscore deadly risk of extreme heat
1 Mar 2022: Climate scientists warn global heating means Australia facing more catastrophic storms and floods
28 Feb 2022: IPCC issues ‘bleakest warning yet’ on impacts of climate breakdown
24 Feb 2022: US seeks to remove ‘losses and damages’ from scientific report on climate impacts
22 Feb 2022: Passivhaus: how to insulate your home against soaring heating bills
22 Feb 2022: London flooding poses ‘significant risk’ unless immediate action taken
18 Feb 2022: US sea level to rise by 2050 as much as in past century, NOAA says
3 Feb 2022: Extreme weather has cost Europe about €500bn over 40 years
25 Jan 2022: McKinsey: fundamental transformation of global economy needed for net zero
18 Jan 2022: Australia records highest temperature in 62 years
14 Jan 2022: Nearly quarter of world’s population had record hot year in 2021, data shows
13 Jan 2022: Why our secret weapon against the climate crisis could be humour
20 Dec 2021: In 2021, governments blew hot on 1.5C goal, colder on climate action
14 Dec 2021: As floods slam more U.S. firms, $50 billion economic drag expected in 2022
7 Dec 2021: From Siberia to the U.S, wildfires broke emissions records this year
30 Nov 2021: 8 times extreme weather hit hard in 2021
30 Nov 2021: Be reassured: the world is not as divided as we might think
29 Nov 2021: Australia’s spy agency predicted the climate crisis 40 years ago – and fretted about coal exports
26 Nov 2021: Epic storms on two coasts have parliament talking climate action, adaptation
25 Nov 2021: Want to fight for climate action but feel daunted or powerless? Try this
22 Nov 2021: Five sustainable solutions to help tackle extreme heat in South Asia
22 Nov 2021: Climate denial is waning on the right. What’s replacing it might be just as scary
19 Nov 2021: The moral case for destroying fossil fuel infrastructure
19 Nov 2021: No country has met welfare goals in past 30 years ‘without putting planet at risk’
18 Nov 2021: Neoliberalism wrecked our chance to fix the climate crisis – and leftwing statements of faith have changed nothing
11 Nov 2021: Look beyond COP26 summit to real world for climate action, says top UK scientist
11 Nov 2021: Youth activists petition UN to declare ‘systemwide climate emergency’
9 Nov 2021: 1bn people will suffer extreme heat at just 2C heating, say scientists
8 Nov 2021: Tuvalu minister stands in sea to film COP26 speech to show climate change
8 Nov 2021: 1.5°C still out of reach despite COP 26 pledges, analysts warn
5 Nov 2021: Climate depression is real. And it is spreading fast among our youth
5 Nov 2021: ‘Reality check’: Global CO2 emissions shooting back to record levels
27 Oct 2021: Poorer countries spend five times more on debt than climate crisis – report
27 Oct 2021: World faces disastrous 2.7C temperature rise on current climate plans, UN warns
21 Oct 2021: Greta Thunberg accuses world leaders of being in denial over climate crisis
19 Oct 2021: U.S. overhauls flood insurance to meet rising climate change risks
18 Oct 2021: Russia's remote permafrost thaws, threatening homes and infrastructure
15 Oct 2021: The climate disaster is here
4 Oct 2021: Confront climate change to stop military being diverted to natural disasters, former ADF chief warns
30 Sep 2021: ‘Blah, blah, blah’: Greta Thunberg lambasts leaders over climate crisis
27 Sep 2021: Children set for more climate disasters than their grandparents, research shows
20 Sep 2021: Children already have the facts. Now they need the tools to fix the climate crisis
9 Sep 2021: Climate tops list of global threats in EU ‘strategic foresight’ report
9 Sep 2021: Extreme sea levels could soon become annual events
9 Sep 2021: Earth’s tipping points could be closer than we think. Our current plans won’t work
6 Sep 2021: Climate change deniers are as slippery as those who justified the slave trade
6 Sep 2021: EU considers debt relief for countries hit by floods, wildfires
2 Sep 2021: 14 dead in New York region amid ‘historic’ flooding caused by Ida remnants
2 Sep 2021: Climate-driven extreme heat threatens $500 bln in new U.S. costs by 2050
30 Aug 2021: Greece’s deadly wildfires were sparked by 30 years of political failure
30 Aug 2021: Over-50s want climate crisis addressed ‘even if it leads to high prices’
27 Aug 2021: Greek fires: Blaming climate change is only the start, phasing out fossil fuels is the rest
26 Aug 2021: In a Summer of deadly deluges, new research shows how global warming fuels flooding
26 Aug 2021: What if it’s too late to save our planet without geoengineering?
30 Jul 2021: New Zealand rated best place to survive global societal collapse
29 Jul 2021: The floods show London is now on the frontline of the climate emergency
29 Jul 2021: ‘Climate change has become real’: extreme weather sinks prime US tourism site
29 Jul 2021: Three Americans create enough carbon emissions to kill one person, study finds
27 Jul 2021: Southern Europe battles wildfires as north cleans up after floods
26 Jul 2021: Flood-hit German homes face higher premiums as climate risks grow
26 Jul 2021: ‘Record-shattering’ heat becoming much more likely, says climate study
26 Jul 2021: Flash floods will be more common as climate crisis worsens, say scientists
22 Jul 2021: From China to Germany, floods expose climate vulnerability
22 Jul 2021: Ballywatticock was country’s hottest ever spot last week – but its reign had ended within days
20 Jul 2021: Britain issues first Amber Extreme Heat warning
19 Jul 2021: Merkel sees ‘surreal’ wreckage as Europe flood death toll tops 180
19 Jul 2021: As floods hit western Europe, scientists say climate change hikes heavy rain
15 Jul 2021: Amazon rainforest now emitting more CO2 than it absorbs
12 Jul 2021: In California’s interior, there’s no escape from the desperate heat: ‘Why are we even here?’
9 Jul 2021: Justin Trudeau’s love of fossil fuel will only make Canada’s extreme weather worse
8 Jul 2021: More carbon dioxide will dry world’s rainforests
8 Jul 2021: The climate crisis will create two classes: those who can flee, and those who cannot
8 Jul 2021: What to know as climate change drives extreme heat
24 Jun 2021: Without ‘transformative adaptation’ climate change may threaten the survival of millions of small scale farmers
24 Jun 2021: ‘The water is coming’: Florida Keys faces stark reality as seas rise
22 Jun 2021: As climate heat worsens, a hungrier world is likely
17 Jun 2021: ‘The next pandemic’: drought is a hidden global crisis, UN says
17 Jun 2021: Rising floods threaten Danish financial system
14 Jun 2021: Solve nature and climate together or not at all
11 Jun 2021: G7 leaders face make-or-break moment in climate crisis
11 Jun 2021: Pathway to global climate catastrophe is clear
7 Jun 2021: Climate crisis to shrink G7 economies twice as much as Covid-19, says research
31 May 2021: More than a third of heat deaths are tied to climate change, study says
28 May 2021: Fossil fuel use leads to worse and longer droughts
27 May 2021: Rising global temperatures 'inexorably closer' to climate tipping point - U.N.
21 May 2021: How we talk about the climate crisis is increasingly crucial to tackling it
20 May 2021: Climate crisis to put millions of British homes at risk of subsiding
17 May 2021: Asia’s cities are worst hit in warming world
29 Apr 2021: World will lose 10% of glacier ice even if it hits climate targets
26 Apr 2021: UN declares 2021 is ‘year for action’ on climate
15 Apr 2021: Climate heating may speed up to unexpected levels
15 Apr 2021: Climate crisis: Boris Johnson ‘too cosy’ with vested interests to take serious action
8 Apr 2021: Climate-blind borrowing risks 'credit crunch' for future generations
30 Mar 2021: Global warming could cut over 60 countries' credit ratings by 2030, study warns
29 Mar 2021: Plants will be hit as a warming world turns drier
25 Mar 2021: Small nuclear power plants no use in climate crisis
16 Mar 2021: World’s coastal cities face risk from land and sea
15 Mar 2021: Climate crisis: recent European droughts 'worst in 2,000 years'
8 Mar 2021: Global heating pushes tropical regions towards limits of human livability
5 Mar 2021: Antarctic warming speed-up alarms researchers
1 Mar 2021: Sir David Attenborough tells UN ‘It is too late to avoid climate change’
23 Feb 2021: Cost of flood damage to U.S. homes will increase by 61% in 30 years
19 Feb 2021: Human destruction of nature is 'senseless and suicidal', warns UN chief
1 Feb 2021: Bolsonaro’s Brazil is becoming a climate pariah
27 Jan 2021: Climate change less likely to be seen as an emergency in poor nations
25 Jan 2021: Global ice loss accelerating at record rate, study finds
15 Jan 2021: Countries adapting too slowly to climate breakdown, UN warns
14 Jan 2021: Rising heat forces big growth in electricity demand
14 Jan 2021: Rising heat forces big growth in electricity demand
11 Jan 2021: Dangerously hotter cities await 2100’s residents
11 Jan 2021: Climate chaos batters global insurance industry
11 Jan 2021: 2020 was hottest year ever in Europe
14 Dec 2020: World still warms in 2020 as greenhouse gases fall
7 Dec 2020: Drylands hit harder by poverty than richer regions
3 Dec 2020: Humanity is waging war on nature, says UN secretary general
3 Dec 2020: Feeling the heat? Scientists warn of climate shocks to global health
1 Dec 2020: Australia endures hottest spring ever, with average temperatures more than 2C above average
26 Nov 2020: New Zealand's Ardern set to declare climate emergency
9 Nov 2020: Scientists’ oath pledges full climate crisis facts
9 Nov 2020: World is running out of time on climate, experts warn
2 Nov 2020: Lack of climate action over 50 years will cost Australian economy $3.4tn and 880,000 jobs – report
29 Oct 2020: 2020 likely to be one of warmest years on record despite La Niña
29 Oct 2020: Africa’s resistance grows as climate crisis worsens
26 Oct 2020: Climate change poses growing threats to vulnerable Africa, UN says
23 Oct 2020: Coronavirus poses threat to climate-change campaigns – David Attenborough
22 Oct 2020: Alarm as Arctic sea ice not yet freezing at latest date on record
12 Oct 2020: Climate activist Greta Thunberg shows support for Biden in rare political tweet
12 Oct 2020: 'Uninhabitable hell': Climate change and disease threaten millions, UN warns
12 Oct 2020: Earth may temporarily pass dangerous 1.5℃ warming limit by 2024, major new report says
12 Oct 2020: Celebrities lead global call to act on climate crisis
8 Oct 2020: Not personal enough: Why climate change is not yet a top priority
28 Sep 2020: Ocean heat waves are directly linked to climate change
22 Sep 2020: Demand climate regulation, Harvard economist urges big businesses
21 Sep 2020: Spinning clock in New York counts down time until climate devastation
17 Sep 2020: BlackRock votes against 49 companies for lack of climate crisis progress
17 Sep 2020: Abnormal heat spreads floods and wildfires globally
15 Sep 2020: Climate crisis takes heavy toll on mental health, psychotherapists' association says
11 Sep 2020: Wild weather this year shows growing impact of climate change, scientists say
11 Sep 2020: Pandemic’s impacts are damaging climate research
25 Jun 2020: Antarctic melting could bring a much hotter future
18 Jun 2020: World has six months to avert climate crisis, says IEA chief
15 Jun 2020: Covid-19 pandemic is 'fire drill' for effects of climate crisis, says UN official
21 May 2020: Climate change is turning parts of Antarctica green, say scientists
21 May 2020: Future shock: COVID-19 failures show need to prep for climate threats
18 May 2020: Climate activists line London's Trafalgar Square with kids' shoes
7 May 2020: One billion people will live in insufferable heat within 50 years – study
28 Apr 2020: Meteorologists say 2020 on course to be hottest year since records began
28 Apr 2020: Climate crisis will make insurance unaffordable for people who need it most
23 Apr 2020: Flooding will affect double the number of people worldwide by 2030
17 Apr 2020: Greenland ice sheet shrinks by record amount - climate study
30 Mar 2020: Coronavirus: The immediate effect on climate change
19 Mar 2020: India finally takes climate crisis seriously
17 Mar 2020: Covid-19: a dress rehearsal for the climate emergency?
13 Mar 2020: Climate emergency: global action is ‘way off track’ says UN head
10 Mar 2020: 'I'm profoundly sad, I feel guilty': scientists reveal personal fears about the climate crisis
20 Feb 2020: Global warming causing 'irreversible' mass melting in Antarctica - scientist
14 Feb 2020: Pupils draft their own climate bill as anxiety grows over lack of guidance for schools
11 Feb 2020: The Guardian view on climate anxiety: we live in frightening times
10 Feb 2020: ‘Overwhelming and terrifying’: the rise of climate anxiety
19 Dec 2019: Climate activists found guilty over London train protest by 'regretful' jury
7 Nov 2019: Budapest declares climate emergency, teases carbon-neutrality
7 Nov 2019: Italy to put sustainability and climate at heart of learning in schools
7 Nov 2019: Sea levels set to keep rising for centuries even if emissions targets met
7 Nov 2019: Climate crisis: 11,000 scientists warn of ‘untold suffering’
4 Nov 2019: Red alert for blue planet and small island states
1 Aug 2019: Our planet is in crisis. But until we call it a crisis, no one will listen
1 Aug 2019: Siberian wildfires prompt Russia to declare a state of emergency
