Greenland Losing Ice, Gaining Vegetation
Greenland has lost around 1.6% of its total ice cover since the 1980s—an area roughly the size of Albania—and areas of that reduced ice sheet are now growing over with plants as climate change irrevocably alters the landscape. A study published Tuesday in the journal Scientific Reports documents how vegetation has doubled over Greenland since the 1980s, in tandem with the ice disappearing. Wetland cover has also quadrupled over this same time period. Both plant-filled landscapes and barren rock absorb more sunlight than ice cover, leading to a feedback loop that creates overall hotter conditions. “The expansion of vegetation, occurring in tandem with the retreat of glaciers and the ice sheet, is significantly altering the flow of sediments and nutrients into coastal waters,” Michael Grimes, the lead author of the report, told the Guardian. “These changes are critical, particularly for the Indigenous populations whose traditional subsistence hunting practices rely on the stability of these delicate ecosystems. Moreover, the loss of ice mass in Greenland is a substantial contributor to global sea level rise, a trend that poses significant challenges both now and in the future.” (The Guardian, CNN, NBC, USA Today)
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