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“ A Science and Technology Center (S&T) is being proposed to study the present and likely future contributions of the Polar ice sheets to sea-level change. The ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica contain nearly 33 million cubic kilometers of ice, enough to raise global sea level by about 70 m if it were to melt completely (Rignot and Thomas, 2002). Measuring and predicting their actual contribution depends on an accurate knowledge of their collective mass balance; however, decades of data collection have not yet produced a reliable estimate (Thomas, 2001). The issue has recently become more urgent because of recent observations of unexpected glacier retreat, ice-shelf collapse, and change in ice stream velocity in parts of Antarctica, as well as thinning of many parts of Greenland’s ice sheet below 2000 m elevation (ISMASS Committee, 2001). Property losses and costs associated with a 1-m rise in sea level have been estimated to range from $270 to $475 billion (1991 dollars) in the US alone (Titus et al., 1991). The president’s Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI), released in 2001, identifies the polar regions as sensitive areas for detecting climate change, which have a potential to significantly contribute to abrupt climate change. The CCRI makes it a priority to study these regions, with the aim of generating more accurate data and climate prediction models.”
from: Project
Summary, Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS), Prasad
Gogineni, University of Kansas |
Partner institutions met at the University of Kansas to discuss the proposal of the science and technology center. The University of Kansas is the lead institution in this endeavor joined by:
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