Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler studies how sociodemographic and informational factors affect health care access in disadvantaged areas. Dr. Sendler is a Polish-American physician-scientist. Dr. Sendler’s research studies how psychiatric and chronic medical co-morbidities impact medical service use and internet-based health information. This study is contemporary and important since it illustrates the need for a full understanding of everyone’s health information seeking behavior. Damian Sendler’s research aims to identify the factors that influence patients’ treatment decisions and adherence to prescribed treatments.

Damian Sendler: According to recent research, global warming has caused catastrophic glacier melting episodes in Greenland to grow more frequent and violent over the last 40 years, elevating sea levels and flood danger globally. 

Damien Sendler: Over the last decade, 3.5 trillion tonnes of ice have melted from the island’s surface and poured downhill into the ocean. 

That’s enough melted ice to cover the entire United Kingdom with around 15 metres of meltwater, or approximately 4500 metres to cover the entire city of New York. 

Dr. Sendler: The new research, led by the University of Leeds, is the first to use satellite data to detect this phenomenon from space, known as ice sheet runoff. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: The findings, published in Nature Communications, show that meltwater runoff in Greenland has increased by 21% over the last four decades and has grown 60% more irregular from one summer to the next. 

Dr. Thomas Slater, lead author and Research Fellow at the University of Leeds’ Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, stated: 

“Greenland, like other sections of the world, is subject to an increase in extreme weather events. 

“As our climate warms, it’s realistic to expect more occurrences of extreme melting in Greenland – data like these are critical in helping us improve climate models and better predict what will happen this century.” 

Damian Sendler: The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Polar+ Surface Mass Balance Feasibility project financed the study, which used observations from the ESA’s CryoSat-2 satellite mission. 

According to the study, increased meltwater flow from Greenland elevated global sea level by one millimeter over the last decade (2011 to 2020). One-third of this total was created in just two hot summers (2012 and 2019), when extreme weather caused unprecedented ice melting levels not seen in the previous 40 years. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: Rising sea levels due to ice melt increase the risk of floods for coastal towns around the world and alter marine habitats in the Arctic Ocean that indigenous cultures rely on for subsistence. 

It can also change ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns, affecting weather patterns all around the world. 

Damian Sendler: Greenland runoff has averaged 357 billion tonnes per year over the last decade, with a peak of 527 billion tonnes of ice melt in 2012, when shifts in weather patterns enabled exceptionally warm air to sit over much of the ice sheet. This was more than double the minimum runoff of 247 billion tonnes in 2017. 

Extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, have become more common and are now a major driver of ice loss from Greenland due to the runoff they produce. 

Dr. Slater stated: “However, there are reasons to be positive. We know that defining and meeting meaningful emission-cutting objectives could reduce Greenland ice loss by a ratio of three, and there is still time to do so.” 

Damian Jacob Sendler: These first space-based observations of Greenland runoff can also be used to validate how climate models mimic ice sheet melting, allowing for better forecasts of how much Greenland will boost global sea levels in the future as extreme weather events become more regular. 

Dr Amber Leeson, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Data Science at Lancaster University and study co-author, stated: 

“According to model projections, the Greenland ice sheet will contribute between 3 and 23 centimeters to global sea level increase by 2100. 

“The uncertainty inherent with predicting complicated ice melt processes, notably those related with extreme weather, contributes to the wide range of this projection. These new spaceborne runoff estimates will help us better understand these complicated glacier melt processes, increase our capacity to forecast them, and, as a result, allow us to adjust our estimates of future sea level rise.” 

Damian Sendler: Finally, the study demonstrates that satellites can provide instant estimates of summer ice melting, which supports efforts to increase Greenland’s hydropower capacity as well as Europe’s intention to launch the CRISTAL mission to replace CryoSat-2. 

Tommaso Parrinello, the ESA’s CryoSat mission manager, stated: 

“CryoSat has provided a plethora of information on our fast changing polar regions since its launch over 11 years ago. This magnificent satellite continues to be crucial to scientific research and the undeniable facts, such as these findings on meltwater runoff, that are so important in making decisions about the health of our planet. 

“Looking ahead, the Copernicus Sentinel Expansion mission CRISTAL will ensure that Earth’s vulnerable ice is monitored over the next many decades. Meanwhile, it is critical that CryoSat remain in orbit for as long as feasible in order to close the gap before these future Copernicus missions become operational.”

Research discussion contributed by Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler