Melting Glaciers and Warming Seas – Global Latent Heat of Fusion, Radial Momentum, and Impulse-Driven Step Increases in Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL)

The rise in global mean sea level approximates integrated planetary warming, with the proviso that the pace of glacial melting is out of equilibrium with global warming. Strength of the trend of rising seas is assessed globally using the physics parameters of momentum and latent heat of fusion. Using a tool from astrophysics, radial momentum is calculated by multiplying the global mass of GMSL rise by the mean rate of rise. Although that rate of rise has increased by a factor of 2.3, the radial momentum post-2011 has increased by a factor of 5 compared with pre-1992 decades. Radial momentum contains more information than the simple rate of GMSL rise and thus serves as an enhanced trend indicator. The evidence indicates accelerated warming, with two apparent impulse-driven step increases in radial momentum. Globally averaged impulse doubled in just 20 yrs. The calculation of global mean latent heat of fusion presents a stark reality. Average annual meltwater added to the oceans during 2012-2024 required the energy of ~2.1─2.8 × 1020 joules. That energy is annually equivalent to >2000 to 2700 Trinity nuclear devices (yield ~25 kilotons) transferring ALL their energy to the melting of ice sheets, demonstrating why large masses of new meltwater are surging into the oceans. These latent heat calculations do not include the energy absorbed annually as thermosteric effects by global oceans. The fact that Earth is a temperature-buffered water planet has so far prevented even more drastic warming rates. The use of fossil fuels in some regions has greatly increased to a degree that maintains a rise in atmospheric CO2 and planetary warming. The dramatic expansion of energy-hungry data centers for AI will challenge electrical generation and grid capacity and complicate the transition to clean energy. Factors contributing to continued warming include increasing greenhouse gases, accelerated fossil fuel use in Asia, broad losses of Arctic sea ice, reduced sulfur emissions, severe northern wildfires in 2023, and other deforestation. Proposed new insights about sea level rise can help the public to better grasp the true pace of global warming and to counter the false claims of powerful climate change skeptics. Public support is essential to advance carbon sequestration and to minimize deforestation, continental drying, and use of fossil fuels.