Fragile ecosystems like the Antarctic and Greenland are highly sensitive to climate change and respond most dramatically to it. Fresh evidence suggests what we were apprehensive about. Global warming is causing Greenland’s ice sheet to melt faster, and the sea level could rise faster than predicted.
Studies conducted by scientists at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks showed a doubling of freshwater runoff in the form of melting and breaking of iceberg, from Greenland by the end of this century, which will result in rise of sea levels greater than previously predicted. Studies have predicted that sea levels would rise 23 feet with the total melting of Greenland’s ice sheet. This would be catastrophic as majority of population lives along coastal areas and several island nations would simply disappear.The world map will have to be redrawn!
All’s not green in Greenland. The effects of global warming are occurring at rates that exceed the predictions by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Greenland is melting faster than at any point in the last half century, and is considered a “highly sensitive” area that should be protected in order to avoid the worst consequences of global warming.
via: thedailygreen
