Rapid Ice Melting in Greenland
A new study says a big part of Greenland’s ice has melted in the last 30 years. It’s about 36 times the size of New York City! The land where the ice melted is changing fast. It’s becoming wetlands and shrubs.
The study found that from the 1980s to the 2010s, Greenland had a lot more plants. This happened because areas that used to be covered in ice are now just rocks, wetlands, or shrubs. Wetlands got four times bigger during this time.
Scientists looked at pictures from satellites to see how much ice Greenland lost. It turns out it lost about 28,707 square kilometers (around 11,000 square miles) of ice. This is a big deal because it can make the Earth’s climate change and the sea level rise.
The Earth is getting warmer, and that’s making the ice melt. When the ice melts, it makes the ground warmer. This causes even more ice to melt and can make other problems too. For example, when the ice melts, it releases gases that make the Earth warmer. Also, the ground becomes less stable, which can be bad for buildings.
One of the scientists who wrote the report, Jonathan Carrivick, said they see a pattern. When ice melts, it makes more ice melt, and the land gets greener. This is because when the ice goes away, rocks are exposed, and plants can grow there. This creates a cycle that keeps going.
When ice melts, it changes how the Earth reflects sunlight. Usually, snow and ice reflect sunlight, but when they’re gone, the ground absorbs the sunlight. This makes the ground even warmer, which melts more ice.
All this melting is a big problem for Greenland. It’s warming up twice as fast as the rest of the world. Greenland is a big island with a lot of ice. Around 57,000 people live there, and many of them are indigenous. They rely on nature for their food and way of life.
The lead scientist of the report, Michael Grimes, says the melting ice is bad for the people who live there. It affects fishing and hunting, which are important for their way of life. Also, the melting ice makes the sea level rise, which can cause problems for everyone.
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