User:Mr.crabby/Climate of Greenland

The Climate of the Greenland

Summer
During summer in Greenland, ice sheets breaking up trigger what is known as "glacial motion" or "glacial earthquakes".

Effects
Greenland is one of the area's in both the Nordic region and the world most affected by climate change. A July 2006 study completed by "The Journal of Climate", determined that Greenland was the single largest contributer to global sea-level rise. The temperatures from the year 2000 to the present have caused several very large glaciers that had long been stable, to begin to melt away. The temperatures from the year 2000 to the present have caused several very large glaciers that had long been stable, to begin to melt away. Three glaciers that have been researched, Helheim, Jakobshavns and Kangerdlugssuaq Glaciers, jointly drain more than 16% of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Satellite images and aerial photographs from the 1950s and 1970s show that the front of the glacier had remained in the same place for decades. In 2001, the ice sheet began retreating rapidly, retreating 7.2 km between 2001 and 2005. It has also accelerated from 20 m to 32 m a day. Western Greenland's Jakobshavn Isbræ is generally considered the fastest moving glacier in the world, and has been moving continuously at speeds of over 24 m a day with a stable terminus since at least 1950. The glacier's ice tongue began to break apart in 2000, leading to almost complete disintegration in 2003, while the retreat rate doubled to over 30 m per day. In the summer of 2005, the island of Uunartoq Qeqertoq was discovered off the eastern central coast of Greenland. Prior to 2005, many people assumed that Uunartoq Qeqertoq was actually a peninsula off of Liverpool Land, however, the melting ice shelves revealed that it was only connected to the mainland by glacial ice.

Predicted effects
Scientists estimate that should the current rate of climate change continue, Greenland's ice sheet, which contains 630,000 cubic miles of ice, could melt and cause global sea level to rise by 23 ft. Some climate experts have estimated that Greenland could be losing 80 cubic miles of ice each year.