Our overheating planet is accelerating Greenland's ice melting at a startling rate. Scientists say the impact will reach well beyond the Arctic.
What's happening?
Researchers at the University of Barcelona say extreme melting episodes of ice in Greenland have nearly doubled during summer months in recent decades compared to the period from 1950 to 1990.
Extreme melting episodes occur when large areas of snow and ice rapidly melt. A recent study says Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) meltwater and runoff substantially contribute to the rise in global sea level.
During the summer of 2012, 610 gigatonnes of ice, or the equivalent of 244 million Olympic-size swimming pools, melted. Another 560 gigatonnes, or 224 million Olympic-size swimming pools, melted in 2019.
Why is an increase in extreme melting events important?
Beyond the implications of rising sea levels, GrIS extreme melting episodes also affect the global climate, including Europe.
"International climate reports anticipate a significant increase in temperatures in the polar regions, which would accelerate the trend we have observed in this study," the researchers said per Phys.org.
"These changes in temperature and precipitation patterns could impact on socio-economic activities, ecosystems and may contribute to increased climate extremes in nearby regions of the North Atlantic. This highlights the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate the impacts of climate change in the coming decades," added the researchers.
The study points out that the "frequency and intensity of GrIS melting will continue to increase in the future (IPCC 2022), and the upward trends in extreme melting reported in this study are likely to continue."
What's being done about the extreme melting of ice in Greenland?
A study published earlier this year concluded that Greenland has lost about 20% more of its expansive ice sheet than previously thought. Another study warned that if the ice sheet melted completely, it could lead to a 23-foot sea-level rise.
One geoengineering suggestion from scientists at the College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, China, and the Arctic Center, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland, was published in Nature. Their research paper proposed building sea walls to block warm water and constructing physical supports to prevent the collapse of melting ice sheets.
There are other more audacious suggestions for dealing with the melting ice, but reducing heat-trapping gases released from dirty energy sources is essential. Adapting to renewable energy sources like solar energy and switching from gas-powered vehicles to EVs can help.
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