Ice-Sheet and Sea-Level Changes

doi:10.1126/science.1114613

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Science 21 October 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5747, pp. 456 - 460
DOI: 10.1126/science.1114613

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Review

Ice-Sheet and Sea-Level Changes

Richard B. Alley,¹^* Peter U. Clark,²^* Philippe Huybrechts,³^,4^* Ian Joughin⁵^*

Future sea-level rise is an important issue related to the continuingbuildup of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. The Greenlandand Antarctic ice sheets, with the potential to raise sea level $~$ 70 meters if completely melted, dominate uncertainties in projectedsea-level change. Freshwater fluxes from these ice sheets alsomay affect oceanic circulation, contributing to climate change.Observational and modeling advances have reduced many uncertaintiesrelated to ice-sheet behavior, but recently detected, rapidice-marginal changes contributing to sea-level rise may indicategreater ice-sheet sensitivity to warming than previously considered.

¹ Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Deike Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
² Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
³ Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Postfach 120161, D-27515 Bremerhaven, Germany.
⁴ Departement Geografie, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussel, Belgium.
⁵ Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington, 1013 NE 40th Street, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.

^* These authors contributed equally to this work.

To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rba6{at}psu.edu