National Geographic quotes Enderlin in article on Greenland’s ‘unprecedented’ ice loss
Ellyn Enderlin, a University of Maine research assistant professor in the Climate Change Institute and the School of Earth and Climate Sciences, was quoted in the National Geographic article, “What Greenland’s ‘unprecedented’ ice loss means for Earth.” A new study published in the journal Nature found that the melting of the Greenland ice sheet is greater than at any point in the last three to four centuries, according to the article. A complete melting of Greenland’s mile-thick ice sheets would dump 23 feet of extra water into the world’s oceans, the article states. So what happens high in the poles matters to anyone who lives near a coast, eats food that comes through a coastal port, or makes a flight connection in an airport near the ocean, scientists warn. “What we’re seeing right now is really unprecedented. These melt increases are driven by warming, which is caused by humans pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,” said Enderlin, a glacier scientist who was not involved in the study. “The feedbacks the Earth has, the checks it has — they can’t make up for that. The system can’t adjust to the rate of change right now.”