Scientists have confirmed that the rate of annual melting of the Greenland Shield has increased, and ice began to melt everywhere and with a 90% probability this process is irreversible. The scientific director of the Hydrometeorological Center Roman Vilfand announced this in an interview with RIA Novosti.
According to him, significant changes are taking place in Greenland, which are associated with global warming. In 2019, for the first time in the entire period of satellite observations, 90% of Greenland’s surface was subject to ice melting, although this figure is usually 30%.
“There is such a thing as the Greenland Shield, and now it is melting … More recently, an article by American experts appeared that the melting of the Greenland ice begins to accelerate. Now, due to melting, hundreds of millions of tons of water are dumped into the world’s oceans and this leads to a rise in the ocean level by one millimeter annually, ”said Wilfand.
The meteorologist also said that experts, based on calculations for the past year, predict an increase in the volume of melting. At the same time, Vilfand recalled that one of the tasks of the Paris Agreement was to prevent the acceleration of ice melting.
The forecaster clarified that based on today’s pace, the ocean level will rise by one meter in a hundred years. An irreversible decrease in the amount of ice awaits the Arctic Ocean, according to Wilfand, it will be completely free of ice by 2060-2070.
In July, it was reported that the first test site for studying permafrost and testing technologies for the development of the Arctic was opened in Svalbard. Scientists of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of Roshydromet began work on the creation of the test site in 2016.