{"id":278503,"date":"2024-01-18T16:31:08","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T11:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=278503"},"modified":"2024-01-18T16:31:08","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T11:01:08","slug":"greenland-has-lost-more-ice-than-previously-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/greenland-has-lost-more-ice-than-previously-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenland has lost more ice than previously thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source:<\/strong> This post is based on the article \u201cGreenland has lost more ice than previously thought: study\u201d<\/strong> published in \u201cThe Hindu<\/strong>\u201d on 18th January 2024.<\/p>\n

Why in News?<\/h2>\n

According to recent research based on satellite imagery climate change has caused Greenland\u2019s ice sheet to lose 20% more ice than previously imagined.<\/p>\n

\"\"
File picture of the edge of the ice sheet south of Ilulissat, Greenland Source: The Hindu<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How was the study conducted?<\/h2>\n

Researchers in the United States gathered almost<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>240,000 satellite images depicting glacier terminus positions from 1985 to 2022.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

What are the findings?<\/h2>\n

Note: Glacier terminus position<\/strong> is a position where glaciers meet the ocean.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) Nearly every glacier in Greenland has thinned or retreated<\/strong> over the past few decades.<\/p>\n

2) As per findings, over 1,000 gigatons (1 gigaton is equivalent to 1 billion tons), or 20%, of ice around the edges of Greenland<\/strong> had been lost over the past four decades and not been accounted for.<\/p>\n

3) Although the direct impact on sea level rise is minimal,<\/strong> it could herald further overall ice melt, allowing glaciers to more easily slip towards the sea.<\/p>\n

4) Greenland glaciers are most susceptible to seasonal changes.<\/strong> It is expanding in winter and retreating in summer.<\/p>\n

5) They are also the most sensitive to the impact of global warming<\/strong> and experienced the most significant retreat since 1985.<\/strong><\/p>\n

6) The melting of Greenland’s enormous ice sheet is believed to have contributed over 20% to the observed rise in sea levels since 2002.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Note: Greenland’s ice sheet<\/strong> is the second-largest body of ice in the world after Antarctica.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is Greenland Glacier?<\/h2>\n

1) \u00a0The Greenland Ice Sheet covers about 80 percent of the world’s largest island, stretching across 1.7 million square kilometers (656,000 square miles).<\/span><\/p>\n

2) It stands as the largest ice mass in the Northern Hemisphere<\/strong> and is second in size to the ice mass that covers Antarctica. <\/strong><\/p>\n

2) The ice sheet is made up of layers of snow that have compressed over thousands of years. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

3) At its thickest point, the ice sheet is over 1.9 miles thick and contains about 696,000 cubic miles of ice. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

4) If the entire ice sheet melted, sea levels would rise by about 24 feet.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus: Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: This post is based on the article \u201cGreenland has lost more ice than previously thought: study\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 18th January 2024. Why in News? According to recent research based on satellite imagery climate change has caused Greenland\u2019s ice sheet to lose 20% more ice than previously imagined. How was the study… Continue reading Greenland has lost more ice than previously thought<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,4182],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-278503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-environment","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}