#ENVIRONMENT ■ Rain falls on peak of Greenland ice cap for fi | UPSC Current Affairs Daily

#ENVIRONMENT

■ Rain falls on peak of Greenland ice cap for first time

The summit of Greenland’s huge ice cap has witnessed rainfall for the first time on 14th August.

According to scientists, it is another worrying sign of warming for the ice sheet already melting at an increasing rate.

It was also the latest date in the year scientists had ever recorded above-freezing temperatures at the National Science Foundation's Summit Station.

● Key points:

The US National Snow and Ice Data Center, it was the heaviest rainfall that the ice sheet received since record-keeping began in 1950.

Also, the ice melting rate was seven times more than the daily average that is observed at this time of the year.

Temperatures at the ice cap almost never lift above freezing, but have now done so three times in less than a decade.

That melting event and rain were both caused by air circulation patterns which meant warm, moist air temporarily covered the island.

● Why is Greenland’s melting a cause for worry:

Greenland, which is two-thirds the size of India, already witnessed one of its most severe melting events of the past decade last month, when it lost 8.5 billion tons of surface mass in one day.

As per IPCC’s recent report, the burning of fossil fuels led to Greenland melting in the last 20 years.

The melting from Greenland's ice sheet – the world's second-largest after Antarctica's – has caused around 25% of global sea-level rise seen over the last few decades,

In 2019, the island lost around 532 billion tonnes of ice to the sea, which contributed to the global sea level rising permanently by 1.5 millimeters.

As per an estimate, the Arctic Ocean could witness ice-free summers by 2050 due to extreme climate interventions.

As per an NBC report, if that happens, sea levels could rise by 20 feet, threatening low-lying cities around the world such as Mumbai, New York, and Amsterdam.

● Greenland:

It is the world’s largest island located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans,

It has three-quarters of its surface covered with a permanent ice sheet, which is increasingly coming under threat because of climate change.

Although Greenland remains a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the island’s home-rule government is responsible for most domestic affairs.

SOURCE - THE HINDU