Greenland, the world’s largest island of which 80% is covered in ice, lost 17 billion tons of ice in just two days, according to Polar Portal. The ice that melted Tuesday alone is enough to cover Florida in 5 cm (2 inches) of water.
Greenland is warming three times faster than the global average, triggered by human-caused climate change. The Northern Hemisphere’s largest ice mass lost more than 8.5 million tons of ice on Wednesday, close to the all-time high in 2019 of 11 billion tons, stated the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI).
Temperatures in Greenland reached "worrisome" levels on Wednesday, said the European Commission’s directorate-general for the Defense Industry and Space, as Greenland’s Constable Pynt saw highs of 23 degrees Celsius (73.4 degrees Fahrenheit).
The period from June to August in the autonomous Danish territory is called the melting season. Since last Wednesday more than 40 billion tons of ice has melted, making it a total of 100 billion tons since early June, according to DMI.
The Greenland ice sheet alone could raise global sea levels by 7.5 meters (23 feet).
Up to 90% of global warming is absorbed by the oceans, which pushes up sea levels as a result. The melting and rapid warming are indicators of detrimental changes in our environment, scientists warn.
