Huge ice sheets melting faster, expert warns

Antarctica, Greenland called ‘awakening giants’ in terms of sea level rise

OSLO – The ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica have awakened and are melting faster than expected, a leading expert told peers ahead of a conference of ministers from nations with Arctic territory.

Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, an expert with the Center for Ice and Climate at the University of Copenhagen, told the conference in the Arctic town of Tromsoe that the need for a wake-up call was genuine for the polar and glacial regions.

“Antarctica and Greenland have been sleeping until now,” she said. “Now they are awakening giants.”

The flow of melting ice into the oceans has picked up, and at the current pace sea levels will have risen by three feet by the end of the century, she added. The U.N. backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had earlier estimated sea levels would rise by a foot over the century.

MSNBC