GOVIND TEKALE
A new study reveals that Greenland's ice sheet, which melted by 90% over the last million years, increases catastrophic risk predictions for rising sea levels.
Photo Credits: Hannibal Hanschke
The discovery of plant, insect, and fungal remains beneath three kilometers of ice provides undeniable evidence of significant past melting events.
Photo Source: Google
Most of Greenland's ice sheet disappeared during the last million years when greenhouse gas concentrations were lower than today.
The study, published in PNAS, is the first to provide direct evidence that the central part of Greenland's ice sheet melted in the recent geological past.
Greenland's ice sheet melting could contribute around six meters of sea level rise, severely impacting coastal cities and communities.
The area of Greenland that lost ice over the last three decades is approximately 36 times the size of New York City.
Greenland has experienced a doubling of vegetation and a quadrupling of wetlands between the mid-1980s and the mid-2010s.
Greenland has been warming at twice the global average since the 1970s, with future extreme temperatures likely.
Urgent action is needed to reduce emissions and remove carbon from the atmosphere to address the accelerating impacts of ice sheet melting.