Sea Level Rise is inevitable, in a society where we do not think of global Warming as being exigent, it is fairly likely that by 2100, New York City will be under 6 ½ feet of water. However, this does not consider the ice sheets broken off from the Arctics. For instance, the partial deflation of the Greenland ice sheet or the West Arctic Ice sheet would contribute to an additional  13 to 20 ft or more of sea level rise. The influence of Ice Sheets upon Sea Level Rise is severe, the amount of ice mass lost from Greenland, Antarctica, and Earth’s glaciers and ice caps from 2003 to 2010 constituted to 4.3 Trillion tons or enough area to cover the United States in 1.5 feet of water.

Greenland is being affected by Global Warming. Some believed that Greenland was actually growing from climate change due to the increase in snowfall, (higher moisture in air which can fall as snow). However, the evidence is clear, Greenland’s melting rate is a wash compared to the increase in snowfall. Greenland is losing 400 billion tons of ice per year and it’s ice sheets are breaking away. The combination of ice melt and rain is creating 10 to 15% surface melt. The amount of rain and melted ice sheets is causing the ice sheets to lift up and move out into the sea. In addition, this is creating a warm environment for the ice sheets, moisture in the air is allowing warm temperatures allowing melting to occur at unusually high altitudes on these ice sheets accelerating melting dramatically. A complete Melt of the Greenland ice sheet will create a 23 feet sea level rise. A complete melting of the Antarctic Ice sheet will result in a 200 feet Sea level Rise but is very unlikely and would take a few centuries.