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COPENHAGEN: During a May heatwave that also swept across Iceland, Greenland's ice sheet melted 17 times faster than typical, according to a research released on Wednesday by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) scientific network.
According to a 2022 research published in Nature, the Arctic area has warmed four times faster than the world average since 1979, making it one of the most sensitive to climate change.
"The melting rate of the Greenland ice sheet by, from a preliminary analysis, a factor of 17... means the Greenland ice sheet contribution to sea level rise is higher than it would have otherwise been without this heat wave," Friederike Otto, associate professor in climate science at Imperial College London, told reporters.
"Without climate change this would have been impossible," she explained.
On May 15, the temperature in Iceland rose beyond 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit), a record for the subarctic island at that time of year.
"Temperatures over Iceland as observed this May are record-breaking, more than 13°C hotter than the 1991-2020 average May daily maximum temperatures," according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the meteorological institute of Iceland, 94% of the country's weather stations recorded record temperatures in May.
The warmest day of the heatwave in eastern Greenland was 3.9°C warmer than the preindustrial temperature, according to the WWA.
"While a heatwave that is around 20°C might not sound like an extreme event from the experience of most people around the world, it is a really big deal for this part of the world," Otto told reporters.
"It affects the whole world massively," she told me.
According to the WWA, the record highs seen in Iceland and Greenland last May might occur every 100 years.
Warmer temperatures and melting ice limit Greenland's indigenous populations' ability to hunt on the ice, jeopardizing their livelihood and traditional way of life.
The modifications have an impact on both countries' infrastructure.
"In Greenland and Iceland, infrastructure is built for cold weather, meaning during a heatwave ice melt can lead to flooding and damage roads and infrastructure," according to the World Wildlife Fund.
