Melting ice spells bad news for Greenland
Unfortunately, the rapid warming of temperatures across the globe is having an enormous impact on the largest island in the world — Greenland. Recent studies suggest that polar ice is retreating at an accelerating pace and some scientists even suggest that all of the earth’s polar ice could be faded by 2020.
A recent study, as reported by The Atlantic, published by National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) stated that, “This September, sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean fell to the lowest extent in the satellite record, which began in 1979.” Although Greenland is the earth’s largest island, the majority of its land will be affected by rapid decline of ice and higher sea levels as a result. The fewer than 57,000 who inhabit the island will also feel extreme climate change.
Climate change is usually blamed for the affects on polar ice however one scientist and his team. According to PhysOrg, Dr Stewart Jamieson, a glaciologist at the Department of Geography, Durham University, was reported as saying, “Our research shows that the physical shape of the channels is a more important factor in controlling ice stability than was previously realized Channel width can have a major effect on ice flow, and determines how fast retreat, and therefore sea-level rise, can happen.
Whatever the actual cause of the diminishing polar ice caps is, the results will be truly horrifying. It remains to be seen whether or not the natives of Greenland will eventually proposer from the dramatic climate change or succumb to it.
