A study released Thursday by a team led by scientists at Durham University in Britain said melting ice sheets at the end of the last ice age may have caused sea levels to rise to ten times the current rate
Based on geological records, researchers estimate that oceans around the world rose 3.6 meters (11.8 feet) per century over a 500-year period about 14,600 years ago.
The findings raise a red flag over the current potential for a rapid rise in sea level that could flood densely populated coastal cities and deltas around the world.
The team found that the sea level rise event of about 18 meters may have originated primarily from the melting of ice sheets in the northern hemisphere and not in Antarctica as previously thought. .
Scientists say their work could provide “vital clues” about the future melting of the ice sheet and rising sea levels due to climate change.
“We found that most of the rapid rise in sea level was due to the melting of the ice sheet throughout North America and Scandinavia, with a surprisingly small contribution from Antarctica,” said the co-author of the ‘study, Pippa Whitehouse, of the geography department at the University of Durham.
“The next big question is to find out what triggered the ice thaw and what impact the massive influx of molten water had on the ocean currents in the North Atlantic.
“This is very much on our minds today: any disruption to the Gulf Stream, for example, due to the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, will have major consequences for the UK climate.”
Current models used by many climate scientists estimate that global sea levels could rise by 1 to 2 meters by the end of this century.
Durham researchers used detailed geological data on sea level and state-of-the-art modeling techniques to reveal the sources of the dramatic five-century sea level rise event.
Comparable to the melting of a layer of ice twice the size of Greenland, it resulted in flooding of large areas of lowland and disrupted ocean circulation, with impactful effects on the global climate, they said.
“Our study includes new information from lakes off the coast of Scotland that were isolated from the ocean due to the landfall following the removal of the British ice sheet, allowing us to confidently identify sources of melting water, “added co-author Yucheng Lin, also of Durham’s geography department.
Identifying the source of the melting water will help improve the accuracy of climate models used to reproduce the past and predict changes in the future, the team added.
They noted that the findings were particularly timely, as Greenland’s ice sheet melted rapidly and contributed to rising sea levels and changes in global ocean circulation.
In 2019, Greenland launched more than half a trillion tonnes of ice and thawing water, accounting for 40% of the total sea level rise that year.
© France-Presse Agency