EUROPE: Sea levels aren’t the only things rising due to climate change — swaths of land are too, including the nation of Iceland.
According to their research, the melting of Iceland’s glaciers has reduced pressure on the ground beneath them, causing the land to “rebound” from the Earth’s crust. There is less weight pushing down on the land, which has started to rise, by as much as 1.4 inches annually in some areas, say scientists from the University of Iceland and the University of Arizona.
Imagine what happens to the surface of a trampoline as you get off it – it rises when your weight is gone. In Iceland’s case, the surface of the trampoline is the land (Earth’s crust).
Land in Canada and Scandinavia is still slowly rising after being pushed down by glaciers during the last ice age. More recently, there are indications parts of Alaska and Chile are also experiencing a “rebound” phenomenon as glaciers retreat. But if those rocks are like a memory foam mattress, remaining compressed long after the pressure on them is gone, the rising land in Iceland is like a trampoline, springing back at a rate of nearly 1.4 inches per year.
