“The Greenland coastline is going to experience quite a different outcome,” says<\/a> Lewright.<\/p>\n Sea-level rise<\/a> is the result of increased greenhouse gases<\/a> in our atmosphere, which trap heat that would otherwise be reflected<\/a> back into space.<\/p>\n The ocean absorbs much of that heat<\/a>, and as it does, the water expands. This is called thermal expansion<\/a>, and it’s predicted to be the largest contributor<\/a> to future global sea-level rise.<\/p>\n But experts say melting ice sheets will play a large role in Greenland’s future sea levels, which are forecast to fall rather than rise.<\/p>\n Greenland is a special case because its landmass is currently weighed down by a mile-thick layer of glacial ice, which covers around 80 percent of the island.<\/p>\n At the moment, that ice is being lost at a rate of around 200 billion tons each year. And as that weight lifts, so too does the land below.<\/p>\n In the best-case scenario, with limited greenhouse gas emissions<\/a>, the autonomous territory is set to gain about 0.9 meters (around 3 feet) of exposed land due to falling sea levels by the end of the 21st century.<\/p>\n If we do nothing to curb our greenhouse gas emissions, Greenland will rise a whole 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) out of the ocean.<\/p>\n Lewright and colleagues from the US, UK, and Canada arrived at these estimates by pairing real-world observations of historic sea-level and land-elevation changes with a model<\/a> that predicts land movement once it emerges from beneath melted glaciers.<\/p>\n Gravity plays an important role in Greenland’s rising heights, too.<\/p>\n “When the ice sheet is very large, it has a lot of mass. The sea surface is pulled toward the ice sheet because of that gravitational pull,” Lewright says<\/a>.<\/p>\n “As the ice sheet loses mass, its gravitational pull on the sea surface decreases. That translates into sea level fall.”<\/p>\n Related: A Geologist Explains What Makes Greenland So Incredibly Special<\/a><\/p>\n A reduced sea level will affect the economy, near-shore infrastructure, and food security of Greenland’s predominantly coastal human population. <\/p>\n![\"diagrams](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-16.15.25-642x497.png\")
Projections of total relative sea-level change indicate that sea levels will drop around Greenland under both low (RCP 2.6) and high (RCP 8.5) emission scenarios. (Lewright et al., Nat. Commun., 2026)<\/p>\n![\"YouTube](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771253292_88_0.jpg\")
frameborder=”0\u2033 allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen><\/p>\n![\"Subscribe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Octopus-black-final-642x272.jpg\")
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