A team of scientists from Stockholm University and University of California Irvine investigated whether the Petermann Ice Shelf in northern Greenland could recover from a future breakup due to climate change. They used a sophisticated computer model to simulate the potential recovery of the ice shelf.

“Even if Earth’s climate stopped warming, it would be difficult to rebuild this ice shelf once it has fallen apart”, says Henning Åkesson, who led the study at Stockholm University.

“If Petermann’s ice shelf is lost, we would have to go ‘back in time’ towards a cooler climate reminiscent of the period before the industrial revolution to regrow Petermann”, Åkesson says.

Ice shelves reduce mass loss from our polar ice sheets. These gatekeepers thereby limit sea-level rise caused by climate warming. “The rationale to avoid breakup of ice shelves in the first place should be clearer than ever”, Åkesson says.

Petermann is one of Greenland’s few remaining ice shelves, and is being watched by Argus-eyed scientists worldwide after Manhattan-sized icebergs broke off from the ice shelf in 2010 and 2012, causing Petermann to lose 40 percent of its floating ice shelf. Scientist are concerned that further breakup or even collapse of the ice shelf would speed up ice flow from the interior ice sheet. In 2018, a new crack in the middle of the ice shelf was discovered, which renewed worries of Petermann’s state of health.

Read the full article about ice shelves and climate warming at Environmental News Network.