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Greenland's Melting Ice
If you’re looking for evidence of global climate change, just ask Jay Zwally. The camp he pitched atop Greenland’s massive ice sheet slides downhill about a foot each day, as the ice underneath melts far faster than anyone imagined it could.
Even computer models failed to predict the rate at which Greenland’s ice would thaw, and now scientists are concerned that if it keeps melting at this pace, the entire ice cap could eventually collapse, raising sea levels a staggering 21 feet and flooding the world’s coastal cities.
Studies show Greenland’s ice sheets are melting twice as fast they were five years ago, as temperatures rise sometimes as much as 20 degrees above normal. But what really took scientists by surprise was the way in which warmer temperatures affected ice at the base of these massive glaciers. Predictions hadn’t called for this to happen for centuries, yet in a matter of weeks, the summer meltwater had worked its way through a series of tunnels and fissures in the frozen sheets, lubricating the base of the glaciers and causing the ice to slide faster toward the sea.
What’s more, the sliding ice sheets are shaking things up: Last year alone, researchers recorded as many ice quakes as the total number of quakes that occurred from 1993-1996. The arctic-based earthquakes are hitting magnitudes as high as 5.0.
Should Greenland’s ice caps collapse, the consequences to the earth would be dramatic. In addition to the massive rise in sea level, the earth would lose an important source of protection. The ice caps help to deflect the sun’s rays, keeping the planet cool enough to support life. The more they melt, the more global climate change accelerates.
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To read more about global climate change, and what you can do to stop it, visit www.fightglobalwarming.com.
To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org
