In a stunning discovery aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, scientists found new evidence that Greenland’s glaciers are melting at an unprecedented rate. It's just more evidence that Global warming is no longer on the horizon, it has arrived at our doorstep, and if you live in a coastal city, that's not just a figure of speech.
Scientists aboard Greenpeace ship make startling discovery: Greenland's glaciers are melting faster than anticipated.
That's because Greenland's massive ice sheet locks up more than
sixpercent of the world's fresh water supply, and it is melting
muchfaster than expected. If Greenland were to melt fully, it would
causesea levels around the globe to rise by nearly 20 feet.
Evenmeasurements of four to five feet of sea level rise could mean
thatplaces like New York, Amsterdam, Venice and Bangladesh will
experience floodingin lowlying areas. Morethan 70 percent of the
world's population lives on flat coastal plains.
The Arctic Sunrise arrived in Greenland at the end of June,
withscientists from around the world onboard. The ship and its crew
havebeen documenting and measuring the impacts of global
The alarming retreat of the Kangerdlugssuaq Glacier suggests
that the entireGreenland ice sheet may be melting far more rapidly
than previouslybelieved. Allcurrent scientific forecasts for global
warming had assumed slowerrates of melting. This new evidence
suggests that the threat of globalwarming is much greater and
moreurgent than previously believed.
In addition to the increased speed of the glacier,
scientists from theUniversity of Maine found that the
Kangerdlussuaq glacier has recededmore than three miles since 2001.
Measurements from glaciers acrossGreenland are providing startling
new evidence of thinning, causing theglaciers to speed up and
decrease in overall mass, intensifying theflow of ice into the
"The alarm is now deafening. We can't stand back and watch our
futurego under, literally," said Melanie Duchin, Greenpeace
campaigneronboard the Arctic Sunrise. "We must stop generating
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