According to the Danish government, the Greenland ice sheet lost 8.5 billion tons of surface mass on Tuesday 27 July alone. In addition, another 8.4 billion tons of ice was lost on July 29.
Experts say that the scale of the disappearing ice is so great that the ice that melted on Tuesday could be enough to flood the entire US state of Florida in 5 centimeters of water.
The ice that melts in Greenland flows like water into the ocean, where it contributes to the continued rise in global sea levels caused by climate change.
“This is a very high rate of melting and is likely to change the face of Greenland because it will be a very powerful factor in accelerating future melt and therefore sea level rise,” said Colombian glacier expert Marco Tedesco.
He also added that the temperature in Greenland rose to a record 19.8 degrees on Wednesday.
“In the past, we have had these atmospheric phenomena, but now they are becoming more prolonged and frequent … It is amazing to see how vulnerable these huge, giant areas of ice are. I am amazed at how powerful the forces acting on them are,” Tedesco said.
The melting season in Greenland usually lasts from June to August. Data from the Danish government show that the island has lost more than 100 billion tons of ice since the beginning of June this year. However, this is not yet a record figure, as Greenland lost 11 billion tons of ice per day in 2019.
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