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Climate expert available on Greenland’s ice melt

‘Every bit of additional warming will mean even more flooding and catastrophe’

Findings from a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change show that 3.3% of Greenland’s ice sheet will melt, causing global sea levels to raise by nearly a foot. 

Northwestern University climate scientist Yarrow Axford, who was not involved in the study, is available to discuss the Greenland Ice Sheet and how climate change is affecting glacial fluctuations in Arctic and alpine environments. 

An expert on Greenland’s climate history, Axford is an associate professor of Earth and planetary sciences in Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Her research group conducts field-based climate investigations at remote sites in Greenland and the Arctic, where they use geological methods to reconstruct past climate. This information feeds into climate projection models that help researchers gauge Greenland’s sensitivity to warming and the ice sheet’s behavior.

Axford can be reached directly at axford@northwestern.edu.

Quote from Professor Axford

“The warming we have already caused has seriously shifted the balance for Greenland’s massive, Alaska-sized ice sheet. This study finds we’ve already locked in almost a foot of sea level rise from Greenland alone. That’s not even counting the world’s many smaller glaciers that are rapidly shrinking, or the sleeping giant of Antarctica. That’s also not counting the effects of additional future warming. The exact rate of sea level rise is still debated, but we know that every bit of additional warming will mean even more flooding and catastrophe along the world’s coastlines. I cannot overstate the urgency of drastically reducing emissions to slow global ice loss and slow down all the other dangerous changes we’re causing.”

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