Greenland: islets emerging due to global warming

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: ODD ANDERSEN / AFP 3:49 p.m., February 6, 2024

Mainly caused by global warming, the melting of the ice cap in Greenland is at the origin of the rise in the ground level of the immense Arctic island and the creation of new islets, indicated Tuesday the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). “Due to the loss of mass across Greenland, the earth is rising,” DTU researcher Danjal Longfors Berg, lead author of a study published in the journal “Geophysical Research Letters,” told AFP. .

An “alarming” phenomenon

According to Danish scientists, bedrock in Greenland has risen by an average of 20 centimeters over the past 10 years, from 2013 to 2023, an "alarming" phenomenon, he added. However, the rise in ground level is less significant the further you move away from an active glacier. Measured by 61 GPS stations located along the coasts, the uplift, which could reach two meters per century, also reveals new islets around the Danish autonomous territory, which is 2.2 million km2 large. “In Greenland, the mother earth is rising faster than the ocean level is rising and in some places when the land is rising it is rising above sea level, and then we have these new islands,” said Danjal Longfors Berg.

>> READ ALSO -

 Skiing: faced with climate change, the French economic model is "running out of steam"

Ultimately, "the total area of ​​Greenland will increase (...). but at the beginning, it's just maybe a few stones", he stressed. According to a study published in early 2023, half of the glaciers on Earth are condemned to disappear by the end of the century because of climate change. Their melting contributes to rising sea levels. In Greenland, "there are certain regions where all this lost mass can never be found, even if we had a small ice age," said the scientist.