Tag Archives: Greenlands

Exploring Greenland’s Abundant Rare Earth Resources: A Wealth of Opportunities

Posted on by
Reply

Glowing Sodalite in Greenland’s Kvanefjeld

Photo by Jonas Kako/Panos

Located in the Kvaneveld deposit of southern Greenland, these sodalites emit a captivating glow under ultraviolet light, creating a stunning contrast against the surrounding mountains.

The striking image was captured by Photographer Jonas Kako. During his exploration, he investigated the impact of rare earth element mining on Greenland’s local communities. The sodalite found at Kvanefjeld absorbs ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation, emitting light at wavelengths visible to human eyes.

The Kvanefjeld site contains critical rare earth elements and minerals essential for various industries, including space, defense, and sustainable energy solutions. Currently, Western nations rely on Chinese mines for about 90% of these materials, creating geopolitical vulnerabilities. Remarkably, 25 out of the 34 minerals labeled as critical raw materials by the European Commission are located in Greenland.

Such valuable resources render Greenland’s Kvanefjeld and similar mineral-rich areas prime interest for both scientists and policymakers. The island has been thrust into international headlines amid rising global tensions, with discussions surrounding its potential purchase and territorial threats from former President Donald Trump.

Kako’s photo series Treasure Island sheds light on the challenges faced by Greenlanders, many of whom are striving for independence from Danish governance, while also resisting the idea of joining the United States. The island’s precarious political landscape has only intensified, placing its residents under unexpected international scrutiny.

At present, Greenland’s economy primarily thrives on fishing, which represents about 90% of its export earnings. Yet, resource extraction has the potential to reshape this economic landscape, raising concerns among residents regarding the environmental implications of mining, especially since some minerals are found alongside radioactive materials.

Miners at Amitsoq Mine, Important for Graphite Production

Photo by Jonas Kako/Panos

Kako’s image captures Greenland miners transporting graphite samples for future assessments at the Amitsoq mine, known for its significant graphite reserves, crucial for green technologies and battery production. Last year, the European Union recognized this mine as strategically important, paving the way for financial backing.

Graphite Sample Essential for Modern Technologies

Photo by Jonas Kako/Panos

Topics:

This rewritten content maintains the original structure while optimizing for SEO through the use of relevant keywords and more detailed descriptions. The HTML tags are preserved as requested.

Source: www.newscientist.com

Uncovering the Mysterious Phenomena Beneath Greenland’s Ice

Posted on by
Reply

The ice deep beneath Greenland’s surface is beginning to show intriguing signs of movement, manifesting as unusual plume-like swirls. According to recent studies, understanding this phenomenon is crucial for scientists aiming to predict the behavior of Greenland’s ice as it rapidly melts into the ocean.

The initial discovery of this formation was made in 2014 through radar imaging, although the underlying mechanism remained unclear.

Recent research indicates that thermal convection, a process driving movements within Earth’s molten mantle, may explain these unique formations.

“People often consider ice as a rigid, cold substance,” stated Professor Andreas Birth from the University of Bergen, Norway. “Finding that certain areas of the Greenland ice sheet experience heat convection—similar to boiling pasta—is remarkable and intriguing.”

Convection reflects a gradual, cyclical movement where warmer sections of a material rise while cooler sections descend.

In this instance, researchers believe the plume has formed from solid ice over millennia due to heat emanating from deep within the Earth.

“It’s counterintuitive to think that thermal convection could happen within ice sheets,” remarked Dr. Robert Law, a glaciologist at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. “But since ice is significantly softer than Earth’s mantle, these physical principles actually hold up.”

To explore whether convection could lead to the creation of these enigmatic plumes, Dr. Law and his research team constructed a digital model of the Greenland ice sheet, employing a simulation typically used for Earth’s mantle convection.

After adjusting parameters like ice thickness, softness, and movement, the model successfully generated rising ice columns that mirrored the shapes observed in Greenland.

Law elaborated to BBC Science Focus that the relatively stable, low-snow environment in northern Greenland likely provides the perfect insulation, fostering the creation of these structures over thousands of years.

Greenland’s ice is melting at an alarming rate. Research from the University of Barcelona indicates water production has surged more than sixfold since 1990, escalating from 12.7 gigatons per decade to 82.4 gigatons per decade – Credit: Getty

This study enhances scientists’ understanding of ice properties that are challenging to measure directly.

“Acquiring data on ice properties, especially within deep ice sheets, is exceptionally difficult,” Dr. Law explained.

“This innovative approach yields invaluable insights that are not accessible through other means. Our findings suggest that ice is softer and more sensitive to stress than previously assumed. However, further exploration is necessary to confirm these conclusions.”

This discovery is critical because Greenland’s ice sheet, spanning over 1.7 million square kilometers (approximately 650,000 square miles), holds significant implications for global sea levels. If it were to melt entirely, sea levels could rise by as much as 7.4 meters (24 feet), according to estimates from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center.

In another recent study, the University of Barcelona revealed that the ice is melting at an unprecedented pace.

Dr. Josep Bonsams, a geography researcher from Barcelona, stated in BBC Science Focus, “The Greenland Ice Sheet is experiencing more frequent, larger, and more intense extreme melt events than in previous decades. Most of the top 10 extreme melt years have occurred since 2000. Melting in Greenland, one of the largest reservoirs of frozen water on Earth, significantly contributes to global sea level rise, making urgent international climate action essential.”

Dr. Law mentioned to BBC Science Focus that his research insights will influence the future outlook for both Greenland and global climate patterns.

“The plume itself does not indicate that we should expect the ice sheet to collapse sooner than current predictions suggest,” he clarified.

“These formations resemble ancient artifacts: thicker, colder, and more stable ice sheets that originated from the last ice age. Nonetheless, the physics of ice remains poorly understood. With every advancement in physical comprehension, we can better forecast the rate of ice sheet melting and the implications for sea level rise.”

Dr. Law expressed his hope that those who engage with his research will share the same wonder for nature and the Greenland ice sheet that inspired his team during their studies.

Read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Melting of Northern Greenland’s Ice Dome: Past Events and Future Risks

Posted on by
Reply

Greenland drill cargo awaiting transport by ski plane at Prudhoe Dome

Researchers Working at Prudhoe Dome in Greenland

Caleb K. Wolcott-George

The ice dome located in northern Greenland has previously melted completely under temperatures expected to return this century. This significant discovery offers valuable insights into the speed at which melting ice sheets can influence global sea levels.

In a groundbreaking study, researchers drilled 500 meters into Prudhoe Dome, an extensive ice formation the size of Luxembourg situated in northwestern Greenland, gathering seven meters of sediment and rock core. Infrared dating indicated that the core’s surface sand was sun-bleached approximately 7,000 years ago—corroborating that the dome fully melted as the planet emerged from its last glacial maximum due to cyclical changes in Earth’s orbital dynamics.

During that era, summer temperatures were 3°C to 5°C warmer than today’s averages. Alarmingly, human-induced climate change could bring back similar temperatures by 2100.

“This provides direct evidence that the ice sheet is highly sensitive to even the modest warming seen during the Holocene,” stated Yarrow Axford, a Northwestern University researcher not involved in the study.

With the ongoing melting of Greenland’s ice sheet, projections indicate a potential sea level rise of tens of centimeters to a meter within this century. To refine these predictions, scientists must enhance their understanding of how quickly various sections of the ice sheet are dissipating.

The Prudhoe Dome core is the first of multiple cores analyzed by the GreenDrill project, funded by the National Science Foundation and featuring researchers from various U.S. universities. Their goal is to extract crucial climate data from beneath the ice sheets, one of Earth’s least-explored areas.

Notably, deposits excavated in 1966 from beneath the ice at Camp Century—a U.S. nuclear military facility operational for eight years during the Cold War—revealed that Greenland lacked ice around 400,000 years ago. Further, a rock core taken in 1993 from underneath Summit Station illustrated that the entire ice sheet has melted as recently as 1.1 million years ago.

However, the GreenDrill project extends its research deeper beneath the ice, collecting samples from multiple locations near Greenland’s northern coast.

“The crucial question is when did the edge of Greenland experience melting in the past?” posed Caleb Walcott-George, part of a new research team at the University of Kentucky. “This is where the initial sea level rise will transpire.”

Current ice sheet models indicate uncertainty regarding whether northern or southern Greenland will melt at a faster rate in the future. This study bolsters the evidence that warming post-last glacial maximum manifested earlier and with greater intensity in northern Greenland, according to Axford.

Potential explanations may involve feedback mechanisms, such as the loss of Arctic sea ice, which could have allowed more ocean heat to penetrate the atmosphere in the far north.

By confirming that Prudhoe Dome melted under a warming of 3°C to 5°C, this study adds credibility to ice sheet models that predict similar outcomes, asserted Edward Gasson, who was not part of the research at the University of Exeter, UK.

“This research is vital for recalibrating surface melting models: When will we really begin to lose this ice?” Gasson emphasized.

Source: www.newscientist.com

Greenland’s melting ice could trigger a heat wave in Europe this year

Posted on by
Reply

Melting ice in Greenland could worsen extreme weather across Europe

REDA & CO srl/Alamy

Europe's 10 hottest and driest summers in the past 40 years have all come after a particularly large amount of fresh water was released from the Greenland ice sheet, meaning southern Europe will experience an especially hot summer this year. Maybe you are doing it.

They say this link occurs because the excess meltwater triggers a series of amplifying feedbacks that affect the strength and position of the atmospheric jet stream over Europe. Marilena Ortmans At the UK National Marine Centre.

“2018 and 2022 were the most recent examples,” she says. 2022 saw extreme heat and numerous bushfires across Europe, with high temperatures reaching 40°C (104°F) in parts of the UK for the first time.

These feedback effects, on top of the underlying warming trend from fossil fuel emissions, mean Europe will become even hotter and drier in coming decades as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet accelerates. Then Mr. Ortmans says:

“This is on top of the warming that is already happening due to increases in greenhouse gases,” she says.

Hotter heat waves and drier droughts are expected as the planet warms, but in some regions, such as Europe, recent heat waves and droughts have been even more extreme than climate modeling projects. Several studies have linked these extreme events to changes in the strength and position of the Arctic jet stream. The Arctic jet stream is a band of upper-level winds whose location and strength have a significant impact on weather.

But it's not clear what causes these changes, Ortmans says. Now, she and her colleagues are analyzing weather observations from the past 40 years, and the results show that extreme weather is ultimately the result of a period of increased ice melt in Greenland. It is said that there is.

“Observational statistical associations are very powerful,” she says.

The excess meltwater leads to a shallow layer of freshwater that extends south of the North Atlantic Ocean. This layer does not easily mix with the warm, salty ocean water below, causing the ocean surface to be colder than normal in winter.

This makes the gradient between this colder water and warmer water further south even more extreme, strengthening the weather front aloft. As a result, wind patterns strengthen, pushing warm water flowing northward, the North Atlantic Current, further north than usual. This further amplifies the temperature gradient.

“The front that forms between an area of ​​cold fresh water and an area of ​​warm ocean water is the main source of energy for storms,” ​​she says.

In a 2020 study, Ortmans suggested: This process leads to an increase in storms. during one winter.

Now, Oltmans' team suggests that these winter changes have lasting effects into the following summer. “Two years after the freshwater anomaly occurred, we are still seeing significant signs,” she says.

The researchers found that stronger temperature gradients lead to stronger jet streams across Europe, making the weather in southern Europe even hotter and drier. Then, as the unusually cold water recedes, the jet stream moves north, bringing hot, dry weather to northern Europe.

“We have discussed the individual links in this feedback chain before,” Ortmans says. “What we did in this study is bring these links together.”

Computer models miss this chain of feedback because they don't include factors such as large fluctuations in meltwater from year to year, she says.

“The association between Atlantic freshwater anomalies and subsequent European summer weather proposed in this study is interesting and relevant to current scientific research on long-term predictions of summer weather, especially “If that relationship holds true for future summers,” he says. adam scaife He works on long-term forecasts at the UK Met Office.

“I think this study is somewhat convincing,” he says. Fei Luo At the Singapore Climate Research Center. But when it comes to predicting summer weather, looking at the previous year's snowmelt isn't as helpful as looking at winter weather conditions, Luo said.

But Oltmans is confident enough to predict that Europe will experience more heatwaves and droughts in the coming years as Greenland's ice melts further in the summer of 2023. “I think southern Europe will experience strong heat anomalies this summer,” she says.

These are likely to become even more powerful in 2025, after which they will begin to impact Northern Europe. “We expect Northern Europe to experience another strong heatwave and drought, not this year, but in the next few years.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com