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The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets under 1.5 °C global warming

  • Frank Pattyn
  • , Catherine Ritz
  • , Edward Hanna
  • , Xylar Asay-Davis
  • , Rob DeConto
  • , Gaël Durand
  • , Lionel Favier
  • , Xavier Fettweis
  • , Heiko Goelzer
  • , Nicholas R. Golledge
  • , Peter Kuipers Munneke
  • , Jan T.M. Lenaerts
  • , Sophie Nowicki
  • , Antony J. Payne
  • , Alexander Robinson
  • , Hélène Seroussi
  • , Luke D. Trusel
  • , Michiel van den Broeke
  • Université libre de Bruxelles
  • Université Grenoble Alpes
  • University of Lincoln
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
  • University of Massachusetts
  • University of Liege
  • Utrecht University
  • Victoria University of Wellington
  • GNS Science
  • University of Colorado Boulder
  • University of Bristol
  • Complutense University
  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
  • Rowan University

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

185 Scopus citations

Abstract

Even if anthropogenic warming were constrained to less than 2 °C above pre-industrial, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets will continue to lose mass this century, with rates similar to those observed over the past decade. However, nonlinear responses cannot be excluded, which may lead to larger rates of mass loss. Furthermore, large uncertainties in future projections still remain, pertaining to knowledge gaps in atmospheric (Greenland) and oceanic (Antarctica) forcing. On millennial timescales, both ice sheets have tipping points at or slightly above the 1.5–2.0 °C threshold; for Greenland, this may lead to irreversible mass loss due to the surface mass balance–elevation feedback, whereas for Antarctica, this could result in a collapse of major drainage basins due to ice-shelf weakening.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1053-1061
Number of pages9
JournalNature Climate Change
Volume8
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2018

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