Kapitel: 4 → Weltklima und Polarregionen
4.11 → Meeresspiegelanstieg – Eisschilde, Gletscher und thermische Ausdehnung: Eine kurze Übersicht
José L. Lozán (Universität Hamburg)
Summary: Global sea level rise – ice sheets, glaciers and thermal expansion • A short review:
Sea-level change is an important issue related to climate change. The oceans accumulated between 1971 and 2010 more than 90% of the energy stored in the climate system. It is virtually certain that the upper ocean (0−700 m water depth) warmed during this period of time.
The thermal expansion of the oceans and the influx of melt water that originated from glaciers‘ ice loss explain >60% of the global mean sea level rise (GMSLR) during 1993-2010. The average rate of ice loss from the Greenland ice sheet has very likely substantially increased from 34 Gt/year over the period 1992-2001 to 215 Gt/year over the period 2002-2011.
The average rate of ice loss from the Antarctic ice sheet has likely increased from 30 Gt/ year (1992-2001) to 147 Gt/year (2002-2011). These losses are mainly from the northern Antarctic Peninsula and the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica.
100 Gt/year means 0,28 mm/year GMSLR (1 Gt = 10^9 tonne).