Earth’s heatwave melts Greenland ice

Last July, the temperature in Paris, France, reached 42.6 degrees Celsius, the highest ever observed. Reports have been reported that this hot weather is rapidly melting the ice in Greenland, a land of frozen land this time. This has been pointed out as evidence that climate change is accelerating beyond the worst predictions climatologists say.

Greenland, the world’s largest island located between the Arctic and the North Atlantic Ocean, covers an area of 2.2 million km2, and more than 80% is covered with ice and ice caps. It has been pointed out that Greenland’s glaciers are melting at an unprecedented momentum in the 350-year record.

It is reported that this melting of ice sheets is accelerating the effects of the heatwave that hit Europe. In the summer of 2019, the temperature in Greenland is 10 to 15 degrees higher than in the previous year, and on July 30, some places exceeded 23 degrees Celsius.

In July 2012, when Greenland ice was said to be the worst year ever to melt, 97% of Greenland ice sheet ice had experienced some kind of melting. At that time, it can be said that 250 billion tons of ice melted, which is said to be enough to raise the sea level by 0.8 mm.

The Naujatkuat River in West Greenland running high in end of July, my gauging station is perched on the bedrock. With the exceptional heat wave coming I have my fingers crossed for it not being washed away. pic.twitter.com/JPofxDIELN

— Irina Overeem (@IrinaOvereem) July 30, 2019

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On July 30 alone, 7 billion tons of ice melted, which is 1.75 times the average. This is equivalent to 3 billion Olympic swimming pools. On August 1, more than 12 billion tonnes of ice melted and flowed into the sea in some areas, and in some areas it was worse than the 2012 melting. It appears that 500 tonnes of ice that would raise sea levels by 0.1 mm in the first week of August was lost in 2019. This is the worst year than 2012.

Some of Greenland ice is exposed to sunlight and melts to some extent each summer. However, in general, even if the ice melts, it is balanced due to snowfall immediately after melting. Newly piled fresh snow reflects sunlight, while old snow solidifies and absorbs solar heat. However, because there was less snow during the previous winter, there was less new snow to reflect the sunlight and weakened to heat.

On the northwestern Greenland ice sheet, 2019 melt to-date is 1.2x that of the previous record melt in 2012. @PromiceGL
UPE_L site 72.9 N, 54.3 W, 209 m (686 ft) elevation pic.twitter.com/SU4KGyYQPf

— Prof. Jason Box (@climate_ice) Jul 31, 2019

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When the first heatwave hit Greenland in June, 45% of the glaciers melted. As a result, ice, which had already been weakened by heat, was greatly affected by the second heatwave at the end of July. It is said that in the past 1,000 years, there have been only a few fusion events like this one. However, if climate change continues, these events are likely to increase in the future. Related information can be found here .