Greenland Ice Melt: A Caution Signal For Humans

Climate change is rampantly increasing. Based on studies and observations, scientists say that by 2050 the earth’s warmth and heat will increase to a level which will make the survival conditions very difficult for humans. The adverse impact of climate change caused by humans is clearly seen in the Arctic region which has become much warmer as a result of which the ice is melting rapidly.

Greenland is the world’s largest island and is an autonomous Danish dependent territory, which is situated between the Arctic and Atlantic Ocean and east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Its ice sheet covers 80% of the surface. However, due to climate change, a vast amount of snow has started melting. Each year Greenland’s ice sheets melt with the season which typically lasts from June to August. Usually, the ice melt reaches its height in July but this year climate experts say it is early. Around 2 billion tons of ice was lost in a single day, and about 40% of Greenland experienced ice melting on 13 June 2019, Thursday. According to researchers, the Greenland melting event took place due to atmospheric circulation in the Arctic and North Atlantic region.

A senior researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland named William Colgan, told the BBC, “It’s very unusual to have this much melt so early in the season, it takes rare conditions, but they’re becoming increasingly common.” He compared the ice melts to 2012 when Greenland witnessed a record-breaking loss of the ice sheet. He stated that the same two factors are said to have caused the previous week’s ice melt and also the marking event of 2012.

Due to high pressure lodged over Greenland, it has created warm and sunny conditions. The other reason for ice melt is low cloud cover and snowfall, meaning solar radiation can strike the ice sheet surface.”What climate change is doing is increasingly loading the dice to set up weather conditions that can tip the ice sheets into these mass loss events,” he said.

If these conditions continue, said Professor Edward Hanna, a climate scientist at the University of Lincoln, Greenland could witness a record melt this year.

“The thing is, with climate trends, as we’ve seen over the past 20 years, as it gets warmer and warmer over Greenland, you don’t need that much of an exceptional event to melt the whole surface of the ice,” he told the BBC.

The consequences, he said, would be felt worldwide.

A lot of experts have said that as sea ice has disappeared, people who rely on transport, hunting and fishing are expected to suffer and there has also been a rise in the sea level. Mr Colgan further added that because of global warming there can be more incidents like this.

This is only one of the incidents of environmental loss. There have been many other cases where humans have caused climate change and in order to not see such kind of incidents, we should pledge to protect our environment and keep it clean.