A new glaciology study suggests the Greenland ice sheet could lose hundreds of trillions metric tons of ice and contribute to approximately 1 foot in average global sea-level rise by the year 2100 — regardless of the greenhouse emissions cut during this period.

In other words, human-caused global warming, through greenhouse gas emissions, likely wouldn't have an impact with the Greenland ice sheet's melting or sea-rise levels.

Within these estimates, computer-modeling researchers calculate the ice sheet will ultimately lose 3.3% of its total volume this century (110 trillion metric tons of ice), or 10.6 inches.

To put that figure into context, the Nature Climate Change journal believes the amount of ice loss could cover the entire United States with 37 additional feet of water.

The glacial study comes on the heels of the Greenland Ice Sheet reportedly incurring a "sharp spike" in the rate and extent of melting — at 18 billion tons of water running into the North Atlantic over a three-day period.