Warming Ocean Could Melt Ice Faster Than Thought : 'OMG'

Washington (July/3/11) ... Warming air from climate change isn't the only thing that will speed ice melting  near the poles ... so will the warming water beneath the ice , a new study points out.

Increased melting of ice in Greenland and parts of Antarctica has been reported as a consequence of global warming , potentially raising sea levels . But little attention has been paid to the impact of warmer water beneath the ice.

Now, Jianjun Yin of the University of Arzona and colleaques report the warming water could mean polar ice melting faster than had been expected. Their report was published Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

While melting ice won't raise sea level, ice flowing into the sea often reaches the bottom, and grounded ice melted by warm water around it can produced added water to the sea.

"Ocean warming is very important compared to atmospheric warming  because water has a much larger heat capacity than air," Yin explained. "If you put an ice cube in a warm room , it will melt in several hours. But if you put an ice cube in a cup of warm water , it will disappear in  just mintues."

In addition , Yin explained , if floating ice along the coastal areas melts it will allow the flow of glaciers to accelerate , bringing more water into the seas.

"This means that both Greenland and Antarctica  are probably going to melt faster than the scientific community previously thought," co-author Jonathan T. Overpeck said in a statement.

Overpeck , co-director of the University of Arozona's Institute of the Environment , said : "This paper adds to the evidence that we could have sea level rise by the end of this century of arounf 1 meter and a good deal more in succeeding centuries ."

The subsurface ocean along the Greenland coast could warm as much as 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 Celsius) by 2100 , the reseachers reported . The warming along the coast of Antarctica would be somewhat less , the calculated , at 0.9 degree F (0.5 C )

randolpheschmid@huffingtonpost.com