Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets show 6 times faster melt than in 1990s

16 Mar 2020

Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets show 6 times faster melt than in 1990s

Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets show 6 times faster melt than in 1990sWe have been reading about global warming and the melting of polar ice caps. Now, researchers have found that the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are melting six times faster than in the 1990’s.

What are polar ice caps?

Polar ice caps are found at the North and South Pole of earth. They are formed because they receive less heat from the Sun.
 	Greenland is a few hundred miles below the North Pole. The South Pole is located in Antarctica.

What does the research say?

The average yearly loss of ice from Greenland and Antarctica in 2010 was 475 billion tonnes.
 	This was six times more than 81 billion tonnes of ice lost per year in the 1990s.
 	From 1992 to 2017, Greenland and Antarctica have lost 6 trillion tonnes of ice. This has increased sea levels by 18 millimetres.
 	The melting of ice fits the ‘worst-case scenario’ as set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC*.

What does this mean?

As temperatures rise due to global warming, the polar ice caps and sheets are beginning to melt.
 	The melted ice, instead of being staying at the poles, is now circulating within the oceans and seas, increasing their water level.
 	If carbon emissions continue at the rate as today, 400 million people will be affected by every year by the end of this century.

Carbon emissions is the release of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide traps the heat and leads to an increase in temperature. Cutting trees, burning fossil fuels etc. increase carbon emissions.

*IPCC is an organisation of the United Nations that studies and provides information around climate change.

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Comments: 2

Kristine says:

17 March 2020 at 12:48 pm

I hope the ice sheets on Greenland does not melt.We should reduce usage of greenhouse gases.

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Kristine says:

17 March 2020 at 12:49 pm

This must be very sad news for the people who live in greenland. What will they do?

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