According to a recent report, temperatures in Greenland’s ice sheet, which is a significant contributor to sea level rise, have reached the highest levels in at least 1,000 years. Scientists have warned that melting this ice sheet could pose a significant threat to coastal communities worldwide.
By drilling into the ice sheet and retrieving samples of ice and snow from hundreds of years ago, scientists were able to study the past temperature trends of North and Central Greenland, dating back to the year 1000 AD to 2011. These samples were used to reconstruct temperature records for the region. The study’s results were published in the scientific journal Nature, indicating that the warming recorded in the decade from 2001-2011 “exceeds the range of the pre-industrial temperature variability in the past millennium with virtual certainty.”
The study has been met with concern by climate experts, with climate physics associate professor Bo Mollesoe Vinther of the University of Copenhagen stating, “This confirms the bad news that we know already, unfortunately…(It is) clear that we need to get this warming under control in order to stop the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.” The study’s findings add to the growing body of evidence that global warming is having a significant impact on Greenland’s ice sheet and highlights the urgent need for action to address the issue.
