Climate Change Accelerates Greenland Ice Sheet Melting Research

Climate warming has a far greater impact on the Greenland ice sheet than climate cooling. Research reveals that the "sponginess" of the ice sheet—the ability of the firn layer to store meltwater—rapidly declines with warming and recovers slowly with cooling. The firn layer, which covers about 90% of the ice sheet at high altitudes, is crucial for buffering sea-level rise.

The study utilized the SNOWPACK model to comprehensively analyze for the first time the impact of temperature changes on the entire ice sheet's firn layer. The results show that the ice sheet loses mass faster during warming than it gains during cooling. This asymmetry means that even if geoengineering efforts are used to lower Arctic temperatures, the protective effects on the ice may be limited.

This research underscores the immense difficulty of reversing climate warming. Cooling would need to exceed warming to restore the normal state of firn and glaciers. In reality, reversing the changes that have already been caused is extremely difficult.