Rate of Greenland’s ice sheet loss has increased since 1990s: study

The rate at which Greenland is losing its ice sheet, which contributes to sea-level rise, has significantly increased since the 1990s, according to a new study.

The study published Tuesday in the journal Nature found Greenland lost about 3.8 trillion tonnes of ice between 1992 and 2018 and that annual losses have risen since the 1990s. 

It found that 48 percent of ice loss was due to glacier discharge, which rose from about 41 billion tonnes per year in the 1990s to about 87 billion tonnes per year since then. 

According to The Washington Post, the study also found that Greenland’s ice sheet is losing more than seven times as much ice annually than in the 1990s. 

Cumulative losses of ice from Greenland are in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s high-end prediction for climate warming, which predict 50 to 120 millimeters in additional sea-level rise by 2100 compared to its central estimate, scientists found. 

A United Nations report from September warned that some ice melt could be irreversible and that the U.S. coasts could experience flooding.