Greenland: ice melt rate quadruples in just 10 years
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
A study by the Danish institute Dtu Space Lab confirms the dramatic acceleration of ice sheet melting in Greenland.
Greenland: ice melt rate quadruples in just 10 years
A study by the Danish institute Dtu Space Lab confirms the dramatic acceleration of ice sheet melting in Greenland.
Between 2003 and 2013, the rate of ice melt in Greenland quadrupled. And the resulting rise in sea levels is now perceptible across vast areas of the immense Arctic island. This is the finding of an analysis by the Danish institute Dtu Space Lab, carried out in collaboration with Ohio University in the United States and published in the prestigious scientific journal Pnas.
428 cubic kilometres of ice lost every year
"In 2003," the authors of the analysis explained in a press release, "111 cubic kilometres of ice were disappearing every year. Ten years later, the figure was almost four times higher: it reached 428 cubic kilometres."
I ghiacci della Groenlandia si stanno sciogliendo 4 volte più veloce di quel che si pensava. Le dimensioni dei ghiacci sono simili a 40 mila anni fa. L'homo sapiens ha 30mila anni. #31gennaio on.natgeo.com/2FOJoI2 di @NatGeo
The warning comes just a few days after the publication of another study, which highlighted an entirely similar dynamic on the other side of the world. In Antarctica, the annual melting of the ice sheet has never been so fast: the melting process is a full six times faster than levels recorded 40 years ago. And it has already caused a 1.4-centimetre rise in ocean levels worldwide (recorded between 1979 and 2017).
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Two unprecedented fractures in the Greenland ice sheet in 2018
Much like the South Pole, Greenland has long been at the centre of scientists' concerns. During 2018, for example, the thickest ice sheet in the Arctic Ocean fractured twice within the space of six months. This is a polar area that until last year had always remained compact throughout every season, including the warmest summer months.
According to some scientists interviewed by the British newspaper The Guardian, the phenomenon was triggered by an unprecedented heatwave that struck the area — itself caused by the climate change currently affecting the Earth. Between February and August 2018, numerous anomalous peaks were indeed recorded in Arctic region temperatures.
"Surprising changes in the patterns of melting"
The Danish study now also speaks of "surprising changes in the patterns of melting of the ice sheet" in Greenland. It is no longer only the ice in the north-western and south-eastern regions of the island that is melting, but also that in the south-western region. The whole process has been further accelerated by the rise in sea water temperature, with which the ice sheet itself is in contact.
Greenland's massive ice sheet is melting faster than scientists previously thought
The report also explained that the average loss amounted to 280 billion tonnes per year between 2002 and 2016. "Every increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere causes an immediate acceleration in ice melt," explained Shfaqat Abbas Khan, director of Dtu Space Lab. A vicious cycle that could only be halted by immediate and extremely vigorous action on the part of governments around the world.