Skip to: [ search ] [ menus ] [ content ] Select style [ Aqua ] [ Citrus ] [ Fire ] [ Orange ] [ show/hide more content ]



NASA: Global ice melt and rising sea levels

Calculations released in a new study (in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature) by scientists at the University of Colorado (safely ABOVE sea level! :-) ) show that from 2003 to 2010, NASA satellites that were systematically measuring Earth’s melting glacial ice found 4.3 TRILLION TONS of water released by melting ice and a global sea level rise of half an inch. The melted ice represents enough ice to cover the entire U.S. 1.5 feet deep! The study found that one quarter of the ice loss measured annually, about 148 billion tones or 39 cubic MILES, came from glaciers outside of Greenland and Antarctica. The study is the first time that ALL of the nearly 200,000 glaciers worldwide have been measured for an extended period of time.

You don’t believe the results? That is one of the beauties of science – it doesn’t care WHAT you believe. It just IS! :-) Sometimes I get really fed up with people who think that their beliefs, in the absence of data, are actually WORTH something. :-)

Although some of the observations in the study show less melting in some locations than previously estimated, NASA warns that melting glacial ice and rising sea levels remain a deep concern associated with climate change.

Some of the study’s results are unexpected, such as the ice melt in Asia’s Himalayan, Pamir, and Tien Shan mountain ranges. Previously estimates were as high as 50 billion tons of ice loss a year in the three ranges combined, but calculations from GRACE put it closer to 4 billion tons annually.

“The GRACE results in this region really were a surprise,” Wahr said. “One possible explanation is that previous estimates were based on measurements taken primarily from some of the lower, more accessible glaciers in Asia and extrapolated to infer the behavior of higher glaciers.”

The CNET article presents an animated video (by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech) “…from the GRACE mission, which shows recent trends in ice mass changes in the world’s mountain glaciers and ice caps.”

“This study finds that the world’s small glaciers and ice caps in places like Alaska, South America, and the Himalayas contribute about .02 inches per year to sea level rise,” said NASA scientist Tom Wagner. “While this is lower than previous estimates, it confirms that ice is being lost from around the globe, with just a few areas in precarious balance. The results sharpen our view of land ice melting, which poses the biggest, most threatening factor in future sea level rise.”

-Bill at

Cheshire Cat Photo™ – “Your Guide to California’s Wonderland™”

You can view higher-resolution photos at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. The Cheshire Cat Photo Store on Zazzle® contains a wide variety of apparel and gifts decorated with our images of California. All locations are accessible from hereLIKE Cheshire Cat Photo on Facebook here! If you don’t see what you want or would be on our email list for updates, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

No Comments to “NASA: Global ice melt and rising sea levels”

  (RSS feed for these comments)

InspectorWordpress has prevented 52153 attacks.
Get Adobe Flash player