Main image via ABC News + AlterNet
While you wipe that bead of sweat that’s rolling down your face and turn the air-cond up (or down) to make it more bearable, a record has been set in Greenland, and it’s not a good one, not at all.
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Greenland is currently facing one of its most extreme melting events in history.
In just a single day, the country that makes up the second-biggest ice sheet on Earth; saw over 12 billion tons of ice melt, The Washington Post reports. The history-creating melting event is thought to be a result of the recent heatwave over Europe.
NASA scientist, Josh Willis, who researches Greenland’s glacier spoke to Mashable to note that:
“It’s no surprise that Greenland keeps setting records for melt and high temperatures. The entire planet is getting warmer, but the Artic is warming faster than every place else.”
According to data from the Danish Meteorological Institute, “more than half the ice sheet experienced melting on July 31, with a loss of more than 10 billion metric tons of ice from the surface.”
While this current unbelievable melting event may just be one “extreme” episode, the country’s long-term melting trends are becoming clear to experts.
Scientists came to this alarming number based on computer model estimates that reference satellites and other data. Ted Scambos, senior researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, explained that:
“This model, which uses weather data and observations to build a record of ice and snowfall, and net change in mass of the ice sheet, is remarkably accurate. I would accept the result as fact. 12.5 billion tons [lost] in one day, and the highest single-day total since 1950.”
Image via Insider
If 12.5 billion tons of ice melting doesn’t sound like a bad thing to you, videos of the meltdown have surfaced on Twitter that show a violent river-like gush of water running from what was once an ice sheet.
According to Gizmodo, as climate change worsens and ice sheets continue to melt at a record-breaking pace, sea levels will definitely be catastrophically affected.
And they say climate change isn’t real. Share this with someone who needs to know.
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