Shocking! Over two billion tons of ice melted in Greenland in one day

More than two billion tons of ice have melted in Greenland on June 13 this year, due to heat wave that struck the island, scientists reported.

In a tweet posted by Greenland on June 14, it said, “Yesterday (13th June), we calculate #Greenland #icesheet lost more than 2 Gt (2 km³) of ice, melt was widespread but didn't quite get to #SummitCamp which was just below 0°C. The high melt is unusual so early in the season but not unprecedented.”

Take a look:

Yesterday (13th June), we calculate #Greenland #icesheet lost more than 2 Gt (2 km³) of ice,, melt was widespread but didn't quite get to #SummitCamp which was just below 0°C

The high melt is unusual so early in the season but not unprecedentedhttps://t.co/Ftg0fkC7AK pic.twitter.com/Y4jQ1FoFRZ

— Greenland (@greenlandicesmb) June 14, 2019

 

It is to be noted that Greenland, which is situated between North America and Europe in the northern Atlantic Ocean, is covered with snow throughout the year. Well, melting ice in Greenland is not new. The island loses ice between the months of June and August due to the summer season. Maximum of ice melts in July. Over two billion tons of ice melting in the month of June is very unusual. Therefore, experts are worried that the amount of ice lost to melting may reach a record high this year.

"It's very unusual to have this much melt so early in the season," William Colgan, senior researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, told the BBC. "It takes very rare conditions but they're becoming increasingly common," he added.  

According to the BigThink, Greenland's current ice loss is on track to break records of 2012. In 2012, Greenland saw severe losses, which, like current melting, was fuelled by two main weather factors: a high-pressure system that carried warm air from the Central Atlantic to the skies over Greenland, causing warmer temperatures, and the resulting low cloud cover and snowfall, which allowed sunlight to hit the vast ice sheets.

"Greenland has been an increasing contributor to global sea level rise over the past two decades," Thomas Mote, a research scientist at the University of Georgia who studies Greenland's climate, told CNN. "And surface melting and runoff is a large portion of that," he added.  

According to the National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Greenland locks away enough fresh water in its ice sheet to raise global sea levels by 20 feet (6 metres). It's the Earth's second-largest deposit of land-based ice after Antarctica.

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