Since 2011, the Greenland ice cap has lost 3.5 trillion tonnes of ice, two-thirds of this amount in the summers of 2012 and 2019.
The Greenland ice cap has lost about 3.5 trillion tonnes of ice in 10 years, causing sea level rise by one centimeter and exacerbating the risk of flooding worldwide, according to a study published Monday. .
Although there are many teams of researchers studying the evolution of Greenland, the article published this Monday in the journal Nature Communications It is the first to use satellite observations from the European Space Agency, which has allowed them to observe that the thaw has increased by 21% in 40 years.
Since 2011, this cap lost 3.5 billion tons of ice, two thirds of this amount in the summers of 2012 and 2019, according to the study.
Greenland’s frozen surface covers an area of 1.8 million square kilometers, making it the second largest after Antarctica.
Scientists monitor the warming of this frozen mass (which would be capable of raising the level of the oceans by 6 or 7 meters), since Antarctica is warming three times faster than the rest of the planet.
The data extracted from satellite images highlight the significant variations in the rate of thaw, which increases more during heat waves than due to the progressive warming of the planet.
“As in other parts of the world, Greenland is vulnerable to an increase in extreme weather events,” said the study’s lead author, Thomas Slater, of the British University of Leeds.
Satellite observation made it possible to quickly and accurately estimate a year’s thaw and its relationship to sea level rise, the researchers say. A method that “will allow a better understanding of the complex processes in de-icing”.
“Modeled estimates suggest that the Greenlandic ice cap will raise sea levels by 3 to 23 centimeters by 2100,” explained paper co-author Amber Leeson of Lancaster University in the UK. (I)
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