Things are about to heat up in Greenland, which is already experiencing higher-than-average ice melt. Shutterstock
A heat wave that shattered records in Europe this week is on the move, and it could melt billions of tons of ice in Greenland.
Hot air that originated over Northern Africa recently brought blistering heat to Europe; yesterday (July 25), Paris sizzled at a staggering 108.7 degrees Fahrenheit (42.6 degrees Celsius), and temperature records were broken across the continent by up to 6 degrees F (3 degrees C), according to Accuweather.com.
Today (July 26), a representative of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that atmospheric flow would carry this scorching heat to Greenland, which lost over 170 billion tons (160 billion metric tons) of ice in July and 80 billion tons (72 billion metric tons) of ice in June from surface melting alone, Reuters reported. [Images: Greenland’s Gorgeous Glaciers]
When this warm air arrives in Greenland, it will likely cause “another major peak in melt area,” said Twila Moon, a research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado.
Intense melt during the summer months has been the norm rather than the exception in Greenland since 2006, NSIDC reported in 2013. More ice is lost every year, with the rate of melt accelerating rapidly, Moon told Live Science in an email. This could have serious implications worldwide by contributing to rising sea levels and further disrupting global climate, Joyce Msuya, the U.N. Environment’s acting…
