Rabat – The recent heatwave that hit Europe has caused Greenland’s ice sheet to begin melting more quickly, losing 12.5 billion tons of Ice in one single day.
On Wednesday, July 31, the melting of Greenland’s ice reached its peak with a record of 56.5%
Greenland, which is the world’s largest island, is a semi-autonomous country under Danish authority. Located between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, ice covers 82% of its surface.
The increased temperatures causing the ice to melt is the same weather front from North Africa and Spain that led to record-breaking temperatures in Europe. Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Britain all saw unprecedented heat waves at the end of July.
According to a study by scientists in the United States and Denmark in June, increased melting of Greenland’s ice sheet would contribute to the rise of the global sea level by 5 to 33 centimeters by the year 2100. The same study found that if all the ice in Greenland island melted, which would take centuries, sea levels would rise by 7.2 meters.
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For Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist with the Danish Meteorological Institute, the ice-melt will continue as the sunny and warm weather in Greenland persist. She expected that the ice-melt would increase and peak on Thursday, August 1, before cooler temperatures slow the pace of melting.
“It looks like the peak will be today. But, the long-term forecast is for continuing warm and sunny weather in Greenland, so that means the amount of the ice loss will continue,” said Mottram, as quoted by the Associated Press.
Mottram added that since June 1 the Greenland ice sheet has lost 240 gigatons (240 billion metric tons) this year compared to 290 gigatons lost overall in 2012. The melt season roughly starts on June 1 and continues until the end of August.
