Up to half the surface of the island’s ice sheet is thought to be currently melting, with runoff equivalent to a 0.5mm rise in global sea levels in July alone.
Greenland has seen abnormally high temperatures so far this summer, scientists have told The Independent, with melting expected to rival the record levels seen in 2012.
In mid-June, temperatures along the eastern coast of Greenland were up to 9C above the 1981-to-2010 average.
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“These are extreme temperatures for the ice sheet, and communities around the Greenland coast are likely bracing for flooding from ice melt,” she added.
Since 2010 the ice sheet’s mean annual mass balance has been about -300 billion tons, equivalent to a mean global sea level rise of about 0.8mm a year.
Apart from the direct influence of the melting ice on sea level rise, the Greenland ice sheet also has a significant impact on regional and global climate. »