Scientists from Denmark have recorded a record temperature in Greenland. This has led to large-scale melting of ice in the area.
Researchers have noticed that the ice sheet of Greenland underwent “massive melting” during a hot wave, when the temperature exceeded the seasonal norm by more than 10 degrees. The shield, which covers a vast Arctic area, has melted by about 8 billion tons a day, twice its normal average speed in the summer, according to the Polar Portal website, where Danish researchers publish their results.
The Danish Meteorological Institute has recorded a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius in northern Greenland, which is more than twice the normal average summer temperature. And at Nerlerit Inaat Airport in the northeast, 23.4 degrees were recorded, which is the highest figure since the beginning of this record.
On the day when the heat hit most of Greenland, the Polar Portal reported severe melting – the water that formed could cover the entire state of Florida with water up to five centimeters thick. However, this is not the biggest melting of the Greenland ice sheet – it happened in the summer of 2019.
Greenland’s ice sheet is the second largest mass of freshwater ice on the planet, covering almost 1.8 million square kilometers, second only to Antarctica. The melting of the ice cover began in 1990 and has accelerated since 2000. Weight loss in recent years has been about four times greater than before 2000, say Polar Portal researchers.
Researchers using computer simulations have determined that by 2100 the ocean level will rise by 10-18 centimeters – 60% faster than previously thought.