As the planet warms, seas will rise around the world — but not in Greenland, where they are projected to fall by several feet, according to a new study.
The reasons are twofold. First, the massive Greenland ice sheet, which at its center is roughly a mile thick, compresses the land underneath. As the ice melts, the land rebounds, rising above the sea.
Second, the Greenland ice sheet is so large that it exerts a gravitational pull on surrounding waters, drawing them higher. But in a warming Arctic, Greenland is shedding some 200 billion tons of ice a year. As its gravitational pull wanes, waters recede.
Scientists have long understood that the loss of ice will cause sea levels to fall, but the new study finds the shift will be more severe than models suggest. They found that, in a scenario where the world takes the drastic steps needed to slash emissions, oceans will still rise by a little more than 1 foot on average by the end of this century. But in Greenland, they will fall by around 3 feet, according to the study, published in Nature Communications.
The study is a significant departure from the projections of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In its latest report, the IPCC suggests seas will rise around most of Greenland, but fall in the north. The new research finds sea levels will fall around the entire island.
Scientists say that falling seas around Greenland will impact ports, affecting shipping and fishing. On the upside, the drop in sea levels could help slow the loss of coastal glaciers. Said coauthor Jacqueline Austermann, of Columbia University, “The impacts are going to be very different than pretty much anywhere else in the world.”
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