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Jakarta –
In Greenland, large areas of ice that have melted are rapidly becoming wetlands and bushes. The greening of Greenland was shown by a study published on Tuesday (13/2).
The amount of vegetation in Greenland increased further in the mid-1980s and mid-2010s, when large parts of the region that were once covered in ice and snow turned into bare rock, wetlands, or even into bushes.
In his report entitled ‘Land Cover Changes Across Greenland Dominated by A Doubling of Vegetation in Three Decades’, it was stated that wetlands experienced a four-fold increase in that period.
Scientists note from analysis of satellite imagery that Greenland has lost 28,707 square kilometers of ice in a three-decade period, and warn of a series of impacts that could have serious consequences for climate change and sea level rise.
The increase in warmer air temperatures triggers the melting of ice and increases land temperatures. This condition causes the melting of permafrost, the frozen layer just below the Earth’s surface that is found in most of the Arctic region.
Melting permafrost releases carbon dioxide and methane which causes further global warming, as well as causing land instability which impacts infrastructure and development.
“We have seen signs that ice loss is triggering another reaction that will lead to further ice loss and further ‘verde’ in Greenland. Melting ice is exposing bare rock that is then populated by tundra and eventually shrubs,” said co-author Jonathan Carrivick The report was quoted by detikINET from Yahoo! News.
“At the same time, water released from melting ice moves sediment and mud, and ultimately forms wetlands and swamps,” Carrivick continued.
The loss of ice creates what is known as a feedback loop. Snow and ice usually reflect the Sun’s energy back into space, preventing excessive heating in parts of the Earth. However, as the ice disappears, the area absorbs more of the Sun’s energy, increasing land surface temperatures, causing further melting and other negative impacts.
Melting ice also causes an increase in the amount of water in lakes, thereby absorbing more heat than snow, and increasing land surface temperatures. Greenland has been warming at twice the global average rate since the 1970s, and researchers have warned that more extreme temperatures are possible in the future.
The report’s lead author, Michael Grimes, said the flow of sediment and nutrients into coastal waters was a particular problem for indigenous communities that depend on fishing, as well as for hunters in other areas of the island.
“These changes are critical, especially for indigenous peoples whose traditional hunting practices depend on the stability of these fragile ecosystems. Moreover, the loss of Greenland’s ice mass is a major contributor to global sea level rise, a trend that poses major challenges both now and in future,” said Grimes.
For your information, Greenland is the largest island in the world, most of which is covered by ice and glaciers. About 57,000 people live in the country, which is an autonomous state within the Kingdom of Denmark. Most of the population is indigenous and many communities there depend on natural ecosystems for their survival.
Watch the Video “Extreme Hot Temperatures, Greenland’s Ice Sheet is Now Often Melting”
(rns/rns)
