Human-caused climate change boosted Iceland and Greenland ’s temperatures by several degrees during a record-setting May heat wave, raising concerns about the far-reaching implications melting Arctic ice has for weather around the world, scientists said in an analysis released Wednesday.
The Greenland ice sheet melted many times faster than normal during the heat wave, according to the analysis by World Weather Attribution, with at least two communities seeing record temperatures for May. Parts of Iceland saw temperatures more than 10°C (18 °F) above average, and the country set a record for its warmest temperature in May when Egilsstadir Airport hit 26.6°C (79.9 F) on May 15.
The findings come as global leaders put more focus on Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments that he would like to annex the mineral-rich island.
Burning fossil fuels for electricity and transportation releases pollutants such as carbon dioxide that cause the planet to warm unnaturally fast. The Arctic is one of the fastest-warming places on Earth.
Even in today’s climate, the occurrence of such a strong heat wave in the region is relatively rare, with a 1% chance of occurring in a year, the analysis said. But without human-caused climate change, such an event would be “basically impossible,” said Friederike Otto, associate professor of climate science at Imperial College London, one of the report’s authors.
The extreme heat was 40 times more likely compared to the pre-industrial climate.
Global impacts from a melting Arctic
Otto said this extreme weather event affects the world.
As the Greenland ice sheet melts, it releases massive amounts of fresh water into the salty oceans. Scientists say this could slow down the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, an ocean current that circulates water from the Gulf of Mexico across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe and then the Arctic.
Such a slowdown could disturb global climate and weather patterns.
“The nature of weather in the Northern Hemisphere is directly tied to what’s happening in the Arctic, because that ice floor basically at the bottom of the atmosphere helps determine the weather patterns that we get,” said Waleed Abdalati, who heads an environmental sciences institute at the University of Colorado Boulder. He was not involved in the WWA analysis.
The Greenland ice sheet and other ice covering the Arctic can influence where and when wind blows, how much water content the wind has and whether precipitation falls as rain or snow.
Most of the melting of the Greenland ice sheet happens in June, July and August. The May heat wave means there will be a longer melting season this year.
Melting ice sheets and glaciers also contribute to sea level rise that is threatening to flood coastlines globally and inundate low-lying island nations in the Pacific Ocean.
Indigenous communities in Greenland are increasingly encountering dangerous travel conditions as sea ice that was once constantly frozen begins to thaw. Access to traditional hunting locations are lost, and sled dogs can no longer travel the same routes. Thawing permafrost can destabilize buildings and increases the risk of landslides and tsunamis caused by landslides.
Greenland dismisses interest from U.S.
Greenland was recently thrust onto the global stage with Trump’s interest in annexing it. The Arctic island is rich with oil, gas and rare earth minerals, and its proximity to the U.S., Russia and Europe has geopolitical appeal.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has said Greenland “will never, ever be a piece of property that can be bought by just anyone.”
Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist at the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, said it is essential that Greenlanders lead decisions about their territory. “Certainly an important part of this conversation is about climate change and climate impacts,” she said. She was not involved in the WWA analysis.
Moon said the climate impacts Greenland is experiencing, particularly the warming global temperatures, stem from well-identified sources such as highly polluting nations and industries. She said actions such as converting to solar or wind energy and switching to transportation that emits less pollution create positive climate impacts for people far away.
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