Submitted on April 17, 2007
Accepted on July 10, 2007
Glaciers Dominate Eustatic Sea-Level Rise in the 21st Century
Mark F. Meier F. Meier 1*,
Mark B. Dyurgerov 2,
Ursula K. Rick 3,
Shad O'Neel 4,
W. Tad Pfeffer 5,
Robert S. Anderson 6,
Suzanne P. Anderson 7,
Andrey F. Glazovsky 8
1 Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, UCB 450, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA.
2 Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, UCB 450, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA; Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, SE-1061, Stockholm, Sweden.
3 Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, UCB 450, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA; Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, UCB 311, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0311, USA.
4 Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, UCB 450, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA; Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320, USA; Department of Geological Sciences, UBC 399, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0399, USA.
5 Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, UCB 450, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA; Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, UCB 428, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0428, USA.
6 Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, UCB 450, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA; Department of Geological Sciences, UBC 399, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0399, USA.
7 Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, UCB 450, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA; Department of Geography, UCB 260 University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80309-0260, USA.
8 Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetny 29, 119107, Moscow, Russia.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Mark F. Meier F. Meier , E-mail: mark.meier{at}colorado.edu
Ice loss to the sea currently accounts for virtually all of sea-level rise not attributable to ocean warming; about 60% of the ice loss is from glaciers and ice caps rather than from the two ice sheets. The contribution of these smaller glaciers has accelerated over the last decade, in part due to dramatic thinning and retreat of marine-terminating glaciers associated with a dynamic instability generally not considered in mass balance/climate modeling. This acceleration of glacier melt may cause 0.1-0.25 m of additional sea-level rise by 2100.
