Greenland is no longer white, it is becoming green…a big threat to the whole world
In the last 30 years, the ice spread over 28,707 square kilometers of Greenland has melted. The problem is that where earlier snow, stones, wetlands and some bushes were found. Now greenery is growing there. Most wetland vegetation i.e. trees, plants and grass
Things like this are spreading in Kangerlussauk in the south-west and remote areas of the north-east. The snow is melting due to excessive heat. Large sheets of ice are melting and shrinking. Since 1970, Greenland’s ice melting rate has been twice the world average. The average air temperature from 1979 to 2000 was 3 degrees Celsius lower than that from 2007 to 2012. Due to melting of snow, the temperature is becoming such that trees and plants are growing.
Lest it happen that in a few years Greenland covered with white ice becomes completely green with trees and plants, Jonathan Kerwick of Leeds University said that we have seen that the ice in Greenland is melting rapidly. Greenery is increasing. It is harmful for Greenland to be too green. The land that comes out after the snow melts has tundra and bushes growing on it.
Dr. Michaels Grimes, the lead scientist of this study, said that the water flowing from melting snow moves forward carrying soil and silt. This supports wetlands and fenlands. If the land continues to grow like this. If the snow continues to melt, weeds will continue to grow on the soil. Sea level will continue to rise due to melting ice, causing damage to coastal cities.
People living in Greenland understand the delicate ecosystem there. They make their living there by hunting. This will cause problems for them too, because the land there is now completely permafrost. It has been frozen for centuries. When greenery grows on such land, there is a possibility of growth of new and ancient viruses and bacteria.
This study has been published in a journal named Scientific Reports. Greenland comes in the Arctic region. This is the largest island in the world. Its area is 21 lakh square kilometers. Most of the area is covered with snow. About 57 thousand people live here. When global warming started in 1970, it had double the impact. There is a fear that the ice will disappear in the future, due to which many countries and coastal cities of the world will drown because the sea level will rise.