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LEEDS, England, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- The ice sheet in Greenland isn't sliding into the ocean as fast as previous climate change studies suggest, a report from Britain states. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 used data that suggested melting sea ice was lubricating the Greenland ice sheet in part due to global climate change.
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When the ice sheet melts, it creates a film that lubricates the ice sheet, causing it to sink more quickly into the ocean.
Andrew Shepherd, a climate scientist at the University of Leeds, said his survey of the Greenland ice sheet suggests earlier studies might be incorrect.
"The Greenland ice sheet is safer than we thought," he told The Guardian newspaper.
His team said if the whole ice sheet melted, it would raise water levels to catastrophic levels but it could take thousands of years for that to happen by warm air alone.
He added, however, that while his study reveals new information about the status of the Greenland ice sheet, it doesn't allay the concerns associated with global warming.
Shepherd's study appeared in Thursday in the journal Nature.
