New satellite data shows that Greenland’s ice sheet melted at a record rate in 2019, with last year’s ice loss being at least 15% higher than the last record year, 2012. The study found that in 2019, Greenland’s ice sheet lost an annual record of 532 billion tons of ice, with 223 billion tons of ice lost in July alone. The loss represents more than 532 trillion litres of water according to a study published in Communications Earth & Environment – equivalent to 212.8 million Olympic-sized swimming pools over the course of 2019.
High-pressure systems that became “blocked” over Greenland last summer were the immediate cause of the huge losses, but the authors say ongoing emissions of carbon are pushing Greenland into an era of more extreme melting. Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, is the world’s largest island and is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans. Greenland ice sheet melt is one of the largest contributors to the rise in sea-level and currently contributes to an increase of 0.76 mm every year.
Danish climate scientist Martin Stendel said the Greenland ice sheet melt last year would be enough ice to cover the entire United Kingdom with around 2.5 metres of meltwater. “Not only is the Greenland ice sheet melting, but it’s melting at a faster and faster pace,” said study lead author Ingo Sasgen, a geoscientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany.
Study co-author Alex Gardner, a NASA ice scientist, said that the expanding of a warming ocean and the impact of other ice sheets and glaciers contributing could lead to coastal flooding and other issues. Several countries including India have low lying cities and areas that will be flooded as sea levels continue to rise.
