Sea level: Greenland ice loss worst in 12,000 years

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/sea-level-greenland-ice-loss-worst-in-12000-years/ar-BB19zTgg

Sept. 30, 2020

Ice loss from Greenland's massive ice sheet will cause sea levels to rise more during the 21st century than they have during any 100-year period in the last 12,000 years, even if global warming is held in check, scientists said Wednesday.

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But even in the short term, increases in sea level measured in tens of centimetres will devastate coastal communities around the world.

Areas currently home to 300 million people -- mostly in poorer nations -- will be vulnerable by 2050 to regular flooding from storm surges, earlier research has shown.

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Until 2000, the main driver of sea level rise was melting glaciers and the expansion of ocean water as it warms.

But over the last two decades, the world's ice sheets atop Greenland and Antarctica have become the single largest source of sea level rise.

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