NASA satellite data shows more than two trillion tons of ice have melted in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska since 2003.
NASA’s GRACE satellite has been recording the pictures since 2003 and has found significant portions of land ice are melting. More than half of the loss of landlocked ice has occurred in Greenland alone.
Greenland is losing ice considerably. Last year, the conditions were more severe. The scientists are still waiting for the 2008 data in Greenland.
Alaska has lost more than 400 billion tons of land ice since 2003. The land ice increased slightly in 2008 because of heavy snow fall but overall it is losing land ice.
Scientists say melting of land ice is not as severe as sea ice, as far as sea level rise is concerned, but it still influences it slowly.
NASA ice scientist Jay Zwally told
AFP that Greenland didn’t add much to the world sea level rise in the 1990s, whereas now the island is adding about half a millimeter of sea-level rise a year.
The land ice loss in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska has raised global sea level by about one-fifth of an inch in the past five years, according to NASA geophysicist Scott Luthcke.
Zwally warned that the conditions are not getting any better. The data shows that it is continuing to show signs of warming and amplification. Lastly, there is no reversal taking place.
