(Image via insideclimatenews.org)
Staff Writer: Olivia Beaudette
Email: obeaudette@umassd.edu
Greenland is the world’s largest island (836, 330 sq. miles), mostly covered by ice and glaciers. The irony of having an arctic island named Greenland is becoming less and less ironic as 11,000 sq. miles of Greenland’s ice sheet and glaciers have melted over the last three decades.
During the last thirty years, the ice sheets have been getting thinner, and the glaciers in Greenland are melting along the edge.
Over this time, 1.6% of Greenland’s total ice and glacier cover has melted, equivalent to Albania’s size.
What is Happening to Greenland?
Greenland has increased vegetation across the south-west, east, and north-east. The most significant increase in dense vegetation has occurred in the south-west and isolated areas in the north-east.
All of these wetlands become a new source of methane emissions.
About 234 billion tons of ice is melted per year. Rock, wetlands, and shrub growth have replaced the melted ice.
The growth of wetlands has quadrupled, and the most significant increase in the wetlands has been in the area around Kangerlussuaq.
Greenland is facing extreme warming rates. Since the 1970s, Greenland has been warming at double the global mean rate. Between 2007 and 2012, the average temperature was 3℃ warmer than the average between 1979 to 2000.
The rate at which the ice is melting is seven times faster now than in the 1990’s.
What’s Causing This Effect?
The melting of Greenland’s ice and glaciers results from global warming. As the air temperature rises, the melting of ice starts.
When ice is lost, the land temperature is affected by albedo. Albedo is used to measure a surface’s ability to reflect sunlight.
Snow and ice reflect the sun’s energy, which keeps the Earth cooler. As the ice melts, bedrock is exposed and absorbs solar energy, leading to rising land temperatures.
What Does the Melting Affect?
Since the air is getting warmer in Greenland and causing the ice to melt, the land is being affected, there are more greenhouse emissions, and the landscape’s stability is affected.
Not only does the melting ice affect Greenland, but it also affects other places. For example, the Arctic Ocean has a decreasing amount of sea ice, and the permafrost in the Arctic tundra is melting rapidly.
This intense warming causes changes to Arctic ecosystems and human communities.
Melting ice also leads to a rise in sea levels. The ice melts and increases the amount of water in lakes. Water absorbs more solar energy than ice, so the water absorbs the solar energy, increasing the land’s temperature.
The melting of Greenland’s ice plays a big part in the rising sea levels.
The melting ice increases the global sea level by at least 0.5 millimeters yearly. Some researchers believe the rate is already higher now. If all of the ice in Greenland melts, the global sea level will rise by 23.6 feet.
As the ice continues to melt, researchers are warning about more extreme temperatures in the future.
These significant climate changes in Greenland are not the first sign of substantial climate change. As Greenland melts, the change also affects the rest of the world.
Greenland is becoming too warm, and instead of the icy irony of its name holding true, the ice is melting and being replaced by green. Greenland is becoming green at the expense of its climate and environment.