Melting from stand-alone glaciers in Greenland accounts for a whopping 10 percent of the total sea level rise worldwide from melting ice, which is more than expected, a new study finds. These "peripheral" glaciers are isolated from the main ice sheet, flowing independently to the sea, and make up just 5 to 7 percent of Greenland's total ice coverage, researchers found. But they are rapidly losing ice, making up 20 percent of the island's total contribution to sea level rise. Because the glaciers cover a smaller area than the ice sheets, they are losing ice about 2.5 times faster than the giant ice sheet, the researchers calculated."The ice loss with respect to area is significantly higher than of the ice sheet," lead study author Tobias Bolch of the University of Zurich in Switzerland said in a statement. "This means that the local glaciers react faster with respect to climate change. This information will help to improve the predictions of the future contribution of Greenland's ice to sea-level rise."
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