Heat Wave Causes Massive Melt of Greenland Ice Sheet
Voice of America
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK - Greenland's ice sheet has experienced a "massive melting event" during a heat wave that has seen temperatures more than 10 degrees above seasonal norms, according to Danish researchers.
Since Wednesday, the ice sheet covering the vast Arctic territory has melted by about 8 billion tons a day, twice its normal average rate during summer, reported the Polar Portal website, which is run by Danish researchers. The Danish Meteorological Institute reported temperatures of more than 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), more than twice the normal average summer temperature, in northern Greenland. And Nerlerit Inaat airport in the northeast of the territory recorded 23.4 degrees C (74.1 F) on Thursday — the highest recorded there since records began.
'Seed guardians' (not pictured) display corns and potatoes as well as seeds of tomatoes, little yellow pears and artichoke, as they meet to exchange forgotten vegetables varieties, in Rancagua, Chile, Oct. 11, 2024. Mapuche native cook and farmer Ana Yanez Antillanca, known as a 'Seed guardian', shows 'egg pumpkin' seeds as she meets with comrades to exchange forgotten vegetables varieties, in Rancagua, Chile, Oct. 11, 2024.
A Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials researcher controls a wheelchair with stiffness-variable "morphing" wheels in Daejeon, South Korea, Nov. 5, 2024. The "morphing" wheel can roll over obstacles up to 1.3 times the height of its radius. Inspired by the surface tension of water droplets, it goes from solid to fluid when it encounters impediments.
FILE - Part of the temples of Baalbek, a UNESCO world heritage site in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, illuminated in blue light, Oct. 24, 2015. FILE - This picture shows closed shops on an empty street in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek on Oct. 19, 2024. FILE - People walk near the Roman ruins of Baalbek, Lebanon, Jan. 5, 2024. FILE - A man sits amidst the rubble at a site damaged in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the town of Al-Ain in the Baalbek region, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Lebanon, Nov. 6, 2024.
Dr. Jaafar al Jotheri, shown here Nov. 10, 2024, holds satellite images and explores the site of the Battle of al-Qadisiyah, which was fought in Mesopotamia -- present-day Iraq -- in the 630s AD. A desert area with scattered plots of agricultural land with features that closely matched the description of the al-Qadisiyah battle site described in historic texts, Nov. 10, 2024.
FILE - This colorized electron microscope image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2024 shows mpox virus particles, orange, found within infected cells, green. (NIAID via AP)
Activists protest in a demonstration at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit on Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Jake Paul, left, fights Mike Tyson during their heavyweight boxing match on Nov. 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas.
Climate activists stage a protest inside the COP29 venue to demand a phase out of fossil fuels during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku on Nov. 15, 2024.
A motorist drives past the CHS oil refinery Sept. 28, 2024, in McPherson, Kan. Pumpjacks operate in a milo field, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, near Hays, Kan.
FILE - Tuvalu, shown in this undated photo, is among Pacific atoll islands threatened with rising sea levels, according to a World Bank study released on Nov. 14, 2024. (Rising Nations Initiative via AP)
FILE - A pumpjack operates at dawn in a pasture, Sept. 30, 2024, near Hays, Kan.