Global warming threatens Greenland’s ice sheet

Greenland’s huge ice sheet could melt within the next 1,000 years and swamp low-lying areas around the globe if emissions of carbon dioxide contributing to global warming are not reduced, scientists said this week.

A melt-down of the massive ice sheet, which is more than three km thick, would raise sea levels by an average seven meters, threatening countries such as Bangladesh, islands in the Pacific and parts of Florida.

Researchers calculate that an annual average temperature rise of more than three degrees Celsius would be sufficient to melt the ice sheet in the future.

New calculations, published in the science journal Nature, show that a temperature rise of that degree is likely to happen, but it could go up by three degrees within 100 years.

Once the Greenland ice shelf melts, scientists do not think it will reform.

However, the impact of global warming could lead to more snow and less melt on the ice shelf. It could also slow or stop the Gulf Stream, which would also lead to less melt.