Much of the ice sheet covering Greenland is melting. This process occurs every year, but it usually happens at the end of May. Well, according to experts from the Danish Meteorological Institute, in 2016 the thaw began in mid-April, and it already affects an area of more than 1.7 million square kilometers . The last time something like this happened was in 1990, and even then it did not take place before May 5.
These researchers point out that it could be a one-off event, driven by the rains and unusually high temperatures that have been occurring for some time on this great Arctic island, but they emphasize that, in any case, it is an unusual event. Climatologist Peter Langen, from the aforementioned Danish institution, points out that a phenomenon of these characteristics, in which all records are broken, is quite disturbing. ” We could consider it as a kind of preview of the things that we will usually see in the future, ” he says.
Temperatures in Nuuk, the most important city in Greenland, have been around 16 ° C in early April , and in Kangerlussuaq, an inland town, they have practically reached 18 ° C, even higher than those registered in many European capitals and North American ones located much further south. According to Langen, the melting of the Greenlandic ice sheet occurs naturally , but the global warming process in which the planet is immersed, which aggravates our emissions, is altering it.
Different studies indicate that the loss of the Greenland ice could contribute significantly to the rise in sea level. Over the next hundred years, it could be up to 60 centimeters.
Image: Saskia Madlener / NASA
