July saw unprecedented melting of the
Greenland ice sheet, with 12 billion tonnes of ice flowing into the sea.
A Cambridge scientist has warned that the "decaying" of the
Greenland ice sheet risks pushing up the sea level and threatens coastal cities around the world.
The area of the
Greenland ice sheet that is showing indications of melt has been growing daily, and hit a record 56.5% for this year on Wednesday, said Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist with the Danish Meteorological Institute.
Wildfires raging in the Arctic Circle and the dramatic melting of the
Greenland ice sheet are climate change warning signs we must not ignore.
Mottram said since June 1 roughly the start of the ice-loss season the
Greenland ice sheet has lost 240 gigatons (240 billion metric tons) this year.
Mottram said since June 1 -- roughly the start of the ice-loss season -- the
Greenland ice sheet has lost 240 gigatons (240 billion metric tons) this year.
"This will result in high temperatures and consequently enhanced melting of the
Greenland ice sheet," she said.
Potential contributions from the
Greenland ice sheet and the ice sheets in West Antarctica represent the greatest uncertainties.
After using satellite and aerial photos, ice cores, and other observational data to help refine the models, the researchers applied them to 260 glaciers on the
Greenland Ice Sheet for the years 1972-2018 and found that the overall amount of melting began to surpass mass accumulation in the 1980s, with a loss of 47 gigatons of ice per year throughout the 1980s and 1990s, 187 gigatons per year through the 2000s, and 286 gigatons per year since 2010.
According to the study which was conducted by researchers from CU Boulder, the University of Copenhagen, Arizona State University and the Rhode Island School of Design, the melting
Greenland ice sheet delivers an enormous amount of sediments to the coast.