As per a report by the National Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland on September 14, 2020, an enormous chunk of Greenland’s ice cap, measuring approximately 42.3 square miles, has broken off in the far northeastern Arctic, indicating the evidence of rapid climate change.
The glacier section that broke off is 110 square kilometres. It came off of the fjord called Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden, which is roughly 80 kilometres long and 20 kilometres wide.
Changes in the Arctic’s largest ice shelf in Northeast Greenland are measured annually at the end of melt season by optical satellite imagery, which increases the resolution of images captured.
According to a recent study published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), ice loss from the Greenland ice sheet increased sevenfold from 34 billion tonnes a year from 1992 to 2001 to 247 billion tonnes a year from 2012 to 2016.
As per an earlier study, Greenland lost a record amount of ice during an extra-warm 2019, with the melt large enough to cover California in more than 1.25 metres of water.
The ice shelf has lost 160 square kilometres, in what appears to be progressive disintegration at the Arctic’s largest remaining ice shelf.
The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing mass at accelerated rates, making it the largest contributor to rising sea levels. Melting glaciers add to rising sea levels, which lead to increases in coastal erosion, and as ocean temperatures increase, so do the frequency of coastal storms like hurricanes and typhoons.
A shocking amount of 586 billion tonnes of ice melted in the summer of 2019, breaking the all-time record.
Courtesy: The Associated Press, Sept 16, 2020; Forbes, Sept 17, 2020