According to Danish researchers, Greenland's Ice Sheet has suffered a "massive melt event" in a heatwave that saw temperatures rise more than 10 degrees Celsius above the seasonal norms.The ice sheet that covers the Arctic has been melting at a rate of around 8 billion metric tonnes per day since Wednesday, according to the Polar Portal website. This is twice the normal summer average, which was reported by Danish researchers.Massive melting event in Greenland. Although not as extreme in terms of gigatons as in 2019, but still enough to cover Florida with two inches water, the area where melting occurs (right image) has been quite a bit larger than it was two years ago. pic.twitter.com/rEeDIlYTA7 Polar Portal (@PolarPortal) July 29, 2021According to the Danish Meteorological Institute, temperatures reached more than 20 degrees Celsius (68 F), which is more than twice the average summer temperature in northern Greenland.Nerlerit Inaat Airport in the northeast of territory registered 23.4 degrees Thursday, which is the highest temperature recorded since records began.The Polar Portal website reported that the heatwave, which affected most of Greenland on the day, caused a "massive melt event" with enough water to "cover Florida with two inches" (five centimeters).The summer of 2019 was the largest melting season for the Greenland Ice Sheet.The website said that the area where this melting occurred is much larger than it was two years ago.With nearly 1.8 Million square kilometers (695,000 sq miles) of freshwater ice, the Greenland Ice Sheet is second to Antarctica.The melting of the glaciers began in 1990, and has been increasing since 2000. According to Polar Portal researchers, the mass loss in recent years has been approximately four times higher than before 2000.A December 2020 European study found that the oceans would rise between 10-18 centimeters by 2100, or 60 percent faster than previously thought. This was due to the Greenland Ice Sheet melting.If the Greenland Ice Sheet were to melt completely, it would raise ocean levels by six to 7 meters.Polar Portal says that despite a cool start to the Greenland summer with snowfalls, rains, the retreating ice sheet for 2021 is still within historical norm.The melting period lasts from June through September.Agence France-Presse
