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In early August, Greenland lost between12 and 24 billion tons of ice each day, which, The Washington Post reported was about 6 to 18 billion tons greater than the typical rates seen during the same dates during the time period from 1981-2010. According to The Post, the melt season overall — which has about 35 to 40 days to go — is poised to set a new and more significant record, the 2012 record ice loss, which reached 300 billion tons of surface ice mass loss from Greenland.
Why This Matters: This rate of melting in Greenland, when combined with similar melting in Antarctica does not bode well for the future of small islands and coastal cities. This rapid melting also creates a dangerous feedback loop — “Ice-free areas feature much above-average sea surface temperatures, which is reinforcing the transport of mild air into the region, and helping to melt more sea ice.” Scientists now believe that “the rate of ice loss in Greenland has increased sixfold since the 1980s, according to a recent study, with the ice sheet responsible for raising global sea levels by 13.7 millimeters since 1972, half of which occurred in just the past 8 years.” But that is just (pardon the pun) the tip of the iceberg. Bloomberg reports that, according to recent modeling, the loss of Greenland’s ice is likely to raise sea levels along the East Coast of the U.S. by a minimum of 0.2 meters (about 8 inches) over the next century. This is a huge news story that has been understandably overshadowed by the tragic events of the past two weeks.
“Greenland has already lost a total of over 250 billion tons from a combination of melt runoff and low total snowfall earlier in the season.”
“That’s enough to fill more than 90 million Olympic-size swimming pools. Or to put it another way, that much water could sustain the global population’s water intake for more than 40 years.”
Arctic sea ice is “well on its way to one of the five lowest levels on record since satellite records began in 1979….Sea ice ended the month of July at a record low, and was continuing to drop sharply into early August.”
By WW0 Staff For the United States, the post-Trump, pre-COP26 road to Glasgow has been paved with ambition and humility. In a major speech, the President’s Envoy, John Kerry, previewed the results of his climate diplomacy before heading into two weeks of intense deliberations of world leaders. Speaking at the London School of Economics — […]
Next week, the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow will draw hundreds of world leaders to Glasgow to determine the path forward five years after the Paris Climate Agreement (for a primer, read this) as new science underscores the urgency. The conference aims to squeeze countries to strengthen the commitments they’ve made towards securing global net-zero […]
By Amy Lupica, ODP Daily Editor In a report released last week, the Department of Defense (DOD) confirmed that existing risks and security challenges in the US are being made worse due to “increasing temperatures; changing precipitation patterns; and more frequent, intense, and unpredictable extreme weather conditions caused by climate change. Now, the Pentagon is […]
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