Greenlandhas melted all the room to bedrock before , and it could happen again — especially if we keep pouring carbon into the air like there ’s no tomorrow . Now , scientist have released a elaborate mapping showing what the vast water ice island would look like if it shed all of its ice .
A disturbing prospect , but the icon sure are lovely .
Greenland Basal Topography BedMachine v3 is now the most utter 3D map of the land beneath the Greenland ice sail . It was piece by researchers at the British Antarctic Survey , the University of Bristol , and the University of California , Irvine , based on airborne survey data from two NASA - result foreign mission , Ocean Melting GreenlandandOperation IceBridge , that was synthesized andpublishedin a research theme last calendar month .
https://gizmodo.com/greenlands-bedrock-is-unexpectedly-deep-which-is-reall-1820074206
The single-valued function offer a preview of the variety of landscape a future human hiking across an ice - free Greenland can expect to chance , from rugged , channel - incise mountains along the island ’s eastern and southerly shoreline to relatively low , flat terrain toward the interior . traveler would gain meridian again trekking toward the vast , glacier - carved fjords along the Greenland ’s west coast .
hereafter pack dangerous undertaking away , this mathematical function is of import for science because it “ give … a bird ’s eye opinion of the fringes of Greenland which are know the most changes , ” according to BAS cartographer Peter Fretwell .
“ This map will better our understanding of the ice - sea interactions and how the ice sheet will acquire in a changing climate , ” Jonathan Bamber at University of Bristol added .
Indeed , as Earther reported recently and these maps take in clear , many of Greenland ’s coastal outflow glacier are profoundly rooted , making contact with the basic principle over 200 feet below sea level . From an ice melting linear perspective , that ’s bad . More deep - rooted glaciers are exposed to warmer waters , hastening their melting . In order for these thick-skulled icy slabs to misplace contact with that warmth seed , they often have to retreat very far inland .
With a refined picture of Greenland ’s bedrock topography , the recent study estimated that global ocean levels will jump about 7.42 meters ( 24 foot ) if the ice tabloid melts completely .
That process of melting is already well afoot . Between 2011 and 2014 , Greenlandshed 1 trillion tons of water .
I ’m get under one’s skin this mathematical function because I ’m a grind and because it would go nicely with mygrowing outer space touristry poster collection . But unlike posters of Saturn ’s moons , this map does more than inspire . It remind us how unstable our planet ’s cryosphere is , and how quick Earth ’s coastlines could be reshaped by changes that occur ostensibly a world away .
you may buy the map for yourselfhere .
cryosphereice on flimsy chalk
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