A recent report released by a team of Danish researchers reveals Greenland’s current situation and predicts a bleak future.
Greenland’s ice sheet has just undergone a massive melting event triggered by a major heatwave. According to researchers, the temperatures have reached more than 10 degrees above periodical norms. The worst thing is that Greenland will soon experience more events like the recent one.
Here is what you need to know.
Greenland’s Ice Sheet Threatened by Increased Temperatures
The recent report shows how the ice sheet covering the wide Arctic region has melted approximately 8 billion tons/ day. As per previous findings, this is actually twice the normal average level during summer.
And that’s not all.
Report details
The Danish Meteorological Institute released a report of the temperatures in northern Greenland, unveiling the worst-case scenario.
The temperatures reached more than 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit). For example, the Nerlerit Inaat airport in the northeast of the region recorded 23.4 degrees on July 29, the highest record ever.
Researchers explained that if this trend of high temperatures continues, we’ll soon witness how Greenland will be stripped from what makes it the way it is.
The Greenland ice sheet is in danger
The Greenland ice sheet is currently the second biggest mass of freshwater ice on Earth, with around 1.8 million square kilometers (695,000 square miles), which is actually second only to Antarctica. As intriguing as this might sound, reality strikes with unimaginable power. The worst thing: we can’t do pretty much anything.
But Greenland started to encounter ice melt events back in 1990, and since 2000 it has highly hastened. In recent years, the mass loss is nearly four times greater than it was before 2000.
A previous study found that the ocean levels would increase between 10 and 18cm by 2100, which is 60 % quicker than researchers estimated back in the day. But what it’ll happen if the Greenland ice sheet would completely melt?
That tragedy would raise the ocean levels by 6 to 7m.
