Ice sheets covering three-quarters of Greenland, the world's largest island, are melting at such a pace that by the end of this century, sea levels could rise to as much as 10 to 12.5 centimeters, according to a study report.
“If global warming continues as before -- what we call the high emission scenario, then the temperature is likely to rise by a further 4.0 to 6.6 degrees Celsius by the year 2100,” the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) said in a press release.
“Such a rise in temperature is significantly greater than we expect for the overall global temperature rise over the same time period, reflecting the fact that the polar regions are very vulnerable to climate change," climate researcher Ruth Mottram said on Tuesday.
The international team of researchers used the latest available global and regional climate modeling tools to calculate the extent the melting of Greenland's inland ice would contribute to the global sea level, by examining the precarious relationship between the change in summer temperatures in Greenland and the ice's surface mass-balance over the last 30 years, reports XInhua.
"Our research shows that we should expect an increase of 10 to 12.5 centimeters in global sea level by the year 2100 as a direct result of increased ice melting and loss of surface mass from the Greenland ice sheet alone," said Mottram.
John Cappelen, senior climatologist at DMI and member of the research team, stressed the seriousness of the team's findings and advocated compliance with the Paris Agreement as a way to limit the warming of Greenland.
"Something must happen to our behavior if we are to limit warming," said Cappelen.
The results of the research are published in the International Journal of Climatology.
The Paris Agreement was agreed by the 195 member economies in Paris in 2015, with the goal of reducing global warming. However, US President Donald Trump announced in June 2017 that his country would leave the agreement.
In November 2019, the Trump administration formally notified the United Nations that it began the process of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, making the US the only country that abandoned the pact.