Three of eight ice shelves in Greenland have collapsed. It now only has five

The ice shelves of Greenland have seen a disappearance of more than a third in their volume since 1978, stated the researchers.

The disintegration of the ice shelves has been accelerated because of warm ocean waters which have melted them from beneath and increased their chances of collapsing.

Among the eight ice shelves which supported the vast glaciers of North Greenland, three have completely collapsed, while the five which remain have been retreating rapidly.

Scientists have said that with the warming of the ocean, the ice shelves will continuously retreat and will have threatening consequences for global sea levels.

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As per experts from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), if these ice shelves entirely disappear, they can release enough water to increase global sea levels by 6.8ft (2.1m).

Speaking to CNN, the author of the study and a glaciologist at the Grenoble Alpes University in France Romain Millan said, “These glaciers are among the most important of the ice sheet. They are the largest glaciers of Greenland.”

He stated that the glaciers in Greenland's different parts began to lose mass in the 1980s and 1990s, and so far those present in northern Greenland “have remained relatively stable.” As per the study, this, however, does not appear to be the case any longer.

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Greenland overall lost 25 per cent of the ice sheet: Study

Thousands of satellite images, as well as measurements from the field and climate models, were used by Millan and his co-authors to get a better understanding of the historical and current changes being observed in the ice shelves.

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In the study, the scientists discovered a “substantial and widespread” increase in ice shelf disappearances.

The researchers, headed by Romain Millan, wrote in Nature Communications, “Overall, 25 per cent of the ice sheet area is drained through former or remaining ice shelves, which represents a sea level rise equivalent of 2.1 m.”

“If the glaciers located in North Greenland lose the buttressing provided by ice shelves, the increase in discharge could rival the largest contributors to Greenland ice mass loss,” they added.

Since 1978, there has been a decrease of more than 35 per cent in the total volume of ice shelves which support the glaciers of northern Greenland, as per the study.

“We can see that the ice shelves are weakening and that’s new key information that we didn’t know, because we thought that this part of Greenland was really stable,” Millan said.

(With inputs from agencies)