In the Arctic, warming is three times faster than elsewhere on the planet.
Greenland registered temperatures of 20 and even 30 degrees above the average at this time of year in recent days, with the thermometer in positive in many points of the immense Arctic territory, the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) reported on Wednesday.
In the capital, Nuuk, on December 20 it was 13 ºC, when the average temperature is usually -5.3 ºC; in Qaanaaq, to the north, mercury reached 8.3ºC when the average is -20.1ºC at this time of year.
“One of the reasons why we see high temperatures is the meteorological phenomenon of the ‘foehn'”, a fairly common warm wind on the island, explained by email to AFP Caroline Drost Jensen, climatologist at DMI. However, it is not usual “for it to occur in such a vast area and simultaneously over a long period” of time, he clarified.
Despite this, it is not an unprecedented phenomenon, according to the expert, since absolute records for maximum temperatures or those of the last 30 years for the month of December have not been exceeded.
In the Arctic, warming is three times faster than elsewhere on the planet.
“Global warming underpins the elevated temperatures we currently observe in Greenland and makes them generally higher … than in the past,” summarized Drost Jensen.
Last summer, a heat wave caused an episode of “massive” melting of the ice cap, with losses of 8,000 tons of ice per day, double the average in the summer period. In August it rained on the highest peak in Greenland (3,216 meters), something never seen before. (I)
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