The Greenland Ice Sheet, Facing Intensifying Global Warming, Is Melting

ILULISSAT, GREENLAND - JULY 15: Melting icebergs float in the Ilulissat Icefjord on July 15, 2024 near Ilulissat, Greenland. The Ilulissat Icefjord is approximately 60km long and is a conduit for icebergs calving from the massive Sermeq Kujalleq glacier, also called the Jakobshavn Glacier, of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Since 1850 Sermeq Kujalleq has retreated approximately 40km, a process that has accelerated in recent decades, with the period from 2002 accounting for 22km of glacier retreat. Earlier this year scientists released a study in which they concluded that Greenland’s glaciers, which all descend from the Greenland Ice Sheet, have retreated about 20% more than previously estimated. Of the 200 glaciers included in the study, only one has grown since 1985. Overall, the amount of glacial ice melting globally has increased markedly over the past 30 years as global warming continues to intensify. According to the European Space Agency, the Earth lost 28 trillion tons of ice between 1994 and 2017, enough to cover the entire United Kingdom with an ice sheet 100 meters thick. Since 2017 the rate of ice loss has increased to 1.3 trillion tons annually, up from 0.8 trillion tons in the 1990s. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the Greenland Ice Sheet has been losing mass continuously since 1996, with an accumulated loss since 1986 approaching 6,000 metric gigatons, or six trillion tons. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)