The study found that an estimated 11,000 square miles of Greenland’s ice sheets and glaciers have melted over the past 30 years. This is approximately nine times the size of Rhode Island and approximately 1.6% of Greenland’s total ice area. Using satellite imagery, researchers found that the area of land covered by plants increased by 33,774 square miles from the mid-1980s to the mid-2010s. Some of the most significant changes were observed across southwestern, eastern and northeastern Greenland, the study said.
Wetlands across Greenland nearly quadrupled during the study period, especially around the town of Kangerlussuaq on the west coast.
The observed changes aren’t just bad news for Greenland’s ice sheets and glaciers, said Jonathan Calivic, a geoscientist at the University of Leeds in the UK and one of the authors of the study.
“We have seen signs that ice loss triggers other reactions, resulting in further ice loss and further ‘greening’ of Greenland, where ice shrinkage causes bare rocks to It gets exposed, then the tundra colonizes it and eventually it becomes a shrub,” Calibic said. stated in a statement.
“At the same time, water released from melting ice displaces sediment and silt, ultimately forming wetlands and wetlands,” he says.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
