Greenland's massive ice sheet saw that a record net loss of 532 billion tonnes this past year, raising red flags about accelerating sea level rise, according to findings released Thursday.
That is equal to an additional 3 million tonnes of water flowing into global oceans each single day, or even six Olympic pools every second.
Last year's loss of mass was at least 15 percent over the previous record in 2012, but much more alarming are the long-term trends, they stated.
If most of Greenland's ice sheet were to melt, then it might lift international oceans by seven metres (23 ft ).
Even a more modest rise of a few metres could redraw the world's coastlines and render land inhabited today by hundreds of millions of individuals uninhabitable.
Until 2000, Greenland's ice sheet - covering an area three times the size of France - generally accumulated as much mass as it shed.
But within the past two decades before, the gathering pace of global warming has upended this balance.
The gap is widening at both ends, according to the study, which draws from almost 20 decades of satellite data.
Changing weather patterns - plus a result of climate change - has resulted in less cloud cover, and thus less snow. These high pressure systems also have resulted in more, and warmer, sunny days, hastening the reduction of mass.
Climate system 'tipping point'
Sasgen says it is too soon to know if we've reached a stage of no return, but insists the ice sheet is likely to continue losing massin colder years.
"But that does not mean that trying to restrict heating does not matter," he added.
"Every decimal degree you save with respect to warming will save yourself a specific amount of sea level rise - both in magnitude and speed."
Experts not involved in the study weren't surprised by the findings, but voiced concern however.
"The ice sheet has dropped ice annually for the previous 20 years," said Twila Moon, a research scientists at the University of Colorado.
"If everyone's alarm bells weren't alre
"Climate models show this flow can be switched off by adding fresh water to the North Atlantic," he said, noting this happened through the end of the last ice age.
By 1992 to 2018, Greenland lost about four trillion tonnes of bulk, causing the mean sea level to rise by 11 millimetres, according to a December 2019 research in Nature.
That is equal to an additional 3 million tonnes of water flowing into global oceans each single day, or even six Olympic pools every second.
Last year's loss of mass was at least 15 percent over the previous record in 2012, but much more alarming are the long-term trends, they stated.
If most of Greenland's ice sheet were to melt, then it might lift international oceans by seven metres (23 ft ).
Even a more modest rise of a few metres could redraw the world's coastlines and render land inhabited today by hundreds of millions of individuals uninhabitable.
Until 2000, Greenland's ice sheet - covering an area three times the size of France - generally accumulated as much mass as it shed.
But within the past two decades before, the gathering pace of global warming has upended this balance.
The gap is widening at both ends, according to the study, which draws from almost 20 decades of satellite data.
Changing weather patterns - plus a result of climate change - has resulted in less cloud cover, and thus less snow. These high pressure systems also have resulted in more, and warmer, sunny days, hastening the reduction of mass.
Climate system 'tipping point'
Sasgen says it is too soon to know if we've reached a stage of no return, but insists the ice sheet is likely to continue losing massin colder years.
"But that does not mean that trying to restrict heating does not matter," he added.
"Every decimal degree you save with respect to warming will save yourself a specific amount of sea level rise - both in magnitude and speed."
Experts not involved in the study weren't surprised by the findings, but voiced concern however.
"The ice sheet has dropped ice annually for the previous 20 years," said Twila Moon, a research scientists at the University of Colorado.
"If everyone's alarm bells weren't alre
"Climate models show this flow can be switched off by adding fresh water to the North Atlantic," he said, noting this happened through the end of the last ice age.
By 1992 to 2018, Greenland lost about four trillion tonnes of bulk, causing the mean sea level to rise by 11 millimetres, according to a December 2019 research in Nature.