Glacier melt discoverers at 4C's March 6th

Scientists who discovered accelerated melting of Greenland glaciers to speak at Cape Cod Community College next Monday, March 6

Will Discuss Findings and Potential Global Warming Impacts to Cape Cod .
The event is free and open to the public

W

HO: Dr. Gordon Hamilton and Graduate Fellow Leigh Sterns, who discovered the accelerated melting of glaciers in Greenland while on board the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise.

"This is a dramatic discovery," said Dr. Gordon Hamilton above with University of Maine PhD student Leigh Stearns, who undertook the measurements on Kangerdlugssuaq Glacier on Greenland's east coast. See the story here.

Gordon and Sterns perform their research through the Climate Change Institute and Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Maine. Gordon has 15 field seasons in Antarctica and Greenland and is a member of NASA’s Terra ASTER satellite mission Science Team.

WHAT: Gordon and Sterns will speak at Cape Cod Community College about their discovery of one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world. The scientists are conducting an independently funded study into glacier variations as evidence of recent global warming.

Outlet glaciers transport ice from the heart of the Greenland Ice Sheet to the ocean and discharge icebergs, which contribute to sea level rise. The Kangerdlugssuaq glacier - one of several the scientists discovered disintegrating and moving at an accelerated pace - could be one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world with a speed of almost nine miles per year.

Dr. Hamilton (above) and Leigh Stearns will speak at a free forum next Monday at 7pm, March 6, at the Cape cod Community College.

In 1996, measurements made with satellite imagery revealed the glacier’s speed was three miles per year. In addition, the glacier has unexpectedly receded approximately three miles since 2001 after maintaining a stable position for the past 40 years.

The Greenland Ice Sheet could melt down if regional warming exceeds about five degrees Fahrenheit.  Should this occur, sea level would rise approximately 23 feet over a few thousand years. However, a two to four foot rise in sea level in the next century would have significant impacts on society.  More than 70 percent of the world's population lives on coastal plains, and 11 of the world's 15 largest cities are on the coast or reside near estuaries.

Last summer the pair reported in their preliminary findings that Kangerdlugssuaq Glacier on Greenland's east coast could be one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world.

The measurements were made this week using high precision GPS survey methods. The results were compared with measurements made with satellite imagery that revealed the glacier's speed had accelerated to3 miles per year in 1996. In addition, Kangerdlugssuaq Glacier unexpectedly receded over 3 miles since 2001 after maintaining a stable position for the past 40 years.

"This is a dramatic discovery," said Dr. Gordon Hamilton. "There is concern that the acceleration of this and similar glaciers and the associated discharge of ice is not described in current ice sheet models of the effects of climate change. These new results suggest that the loss of ice from the Greenland Ice Sheet, unless balanced by an equivalent increase in snowfall, could be larger and faster than previously estimated."

Please note that this event is free and open to the public.

WHEN: March 6 (Monday) 7:00-8:00 p.m. (EST)  Gordon is available for interviews all day on March 6. Please see contact information below to set up an interview.

WHERE:  Cape Cod Community College, Tilden Arts Center, Main Lobby, West Barnstable, MA

CONTACT: Jane Kochersperger, 202-319-2493; 202-415-5477