Melting Greenland

The Greenhouse effect

In Nov 2012, The World Bank published a report on climate change and on it was mentioned the consequences of global warming and why a 4 deg world needs to be avoided.

This was further mentioned in the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change Report (IPCC) in 2013.

The cause of global warming is well known to all; that is the The Greenhouse Effect, where heat from the sun is trapped in the Earth Atmosphere. This is due to carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. However, recently the greenhouse effect has become a threat due to the unprecedented  increased in the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels.

Wikipedia : The Greenhouse Effect

Melting Of Greenland Ice Sheet

One particularly interesting aspect of the World Bank report is the melting of The Greenland Icesheet. Here, it is noted that the rate of loss of the ice sheet has more than tripled since 1993-2003 reaching 1.3 cm per decade over 2004-2008.; in 2009, the loss rate is about 1.7 cm per decade.

Real News Network On UN Greenland Ice Melt

The melting of The Greenland Ice has been mentioned in various previous including by The Telegraph. In the news report by The Telegraph, it is noted that Greenland is melting at a rate that there is enough water to cover the entire Germany 1m deep.

Telegraph, Greenland Ice Melt

Further Evidence of the melting Greenland ice sheet is evidenced by NASA. Where on Jul 8 2012, only 40% of the surface ice of Greenland is melting whereby on Jul 12 2012, closed to 97% of the greenland surface melt is melting for several days of this month. This phenomenal is thought to happened once every 150 years. However, such phenomenal in the near future could spell trouble for the ice sheet of greenland

NASA : Greenland Ice Melt

Consequences of Greenland Ice Melting

It is thought that for the complete disintegration of the Greenland ice sheet could be at if the environmental temperature rises above 1.6degC and stays on for at least several centuries. If this happens, the entire ice sheet of Greenland could raise the sea levels by 7m.

Church and White

Studies by Church and White have noted that present day sea level ice is mainly contributed due to the melting of the ice-sheet. If present-day loss rate continues, it is expected that the sea level would raise by as much as 13cm by 2100. Sea levels for the tropics is also expected to raise by as much as 15-20% more than the global means.

A significant portion of the world populations is situated at coast lines, often in metropolis with huge buildings. This make the increased in sea-level rise a potential severe long term impacts. This could means a loss of coastal settlements, major economic, livelihood losses from such events

Ongoing melting of the ice sheet could also lead to extreme events. For instances, the melting of the Artic sea ice for several decades has been linked to observed changes in the mid-latitudinal jet stream leading to occurrence of extreme events, such as heat waves, floods, and droughts, in different region. In 2012, NOAA found that conclusive evidence in half of the extreme events in 2012 is linked to climate change.

The Greenland Ice serves as a natural coolant for the Earth climate and the loss of the Ice sheet could worsen global warming whereby the white ice sheet is removed, exposing the brown landscape that does not reflect the sun heat rays as effective as the white ice sheet.

The change of Greenland could also change the livelihood of Greenland and its populations, including easier access for the minerals and oil. Already, companies are shifting their operations to Greenland in view of the potential accessibility of natural resources. However, not all of Greenland population welcomed this as they preferred their unpolluted environment. The melting of the Greenland could affect adversely due to loss of habitats for the cold-climate creatures. This is most well documented in the 2013 National Emmy Award Nominee : Melting Point Greenland

203 National Emmy Award Nominee : Melting Point Greenland

Solutions 

Global warming is actual and the reasons is well known and there is solutions to this, that is to reduce or eliminate the production of CO2. The reduction of CO2 can be reduced done by using other form of energy that does not produce CO2 including hydro power, wind power, solar energy, biomass power, marine energy, geothermal power and nuclear power

Improvement of technologies that increased the efficiency of power plants will also reduce the amount of released of C02

A Third noval way is to isolate the CO2 that could be released into the atmophere. This is done by capturing the CO2 at source. CO2 is then dehydrated and compressed into liquid form where it is injected into deep porous rock of sedimentary basin where it dissolved into brine or stored in depleted hydrocarbon reservoir at a depth of 1000m or 3000m below sea level. This is as explained in the video below :

CO2 Emission Reduction

In Louisana, the Go Zero program at The Conservation Fund is working to plant forest back, trees are natural consumer of CO2 in the atmosphere where they remove CO2 in the air and released oxygen by the process known as photosynthesis.

Go Zero Program

On a personal level, we can also reduce CO2 by using public transport instead of driving, using more energy-efficient products, and reducing our water intake. There are many websites that teaches how you can reduce your carbon footprint including : COTAP , EPA and Carbon Fund. Many other websites exists as well. It is up to the individual to take up action to reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and reduces the impact of global warming


References :

1. World Bank Report On Climate Change
2. IPCC Report : Climate Change 2013
3. Wikipedia : The Greenhouse Effect
4. Human cause of global warming is near certainty
5. NASA Greenland Ice Melting
6. NOAA News Report
7.  COTAP 
8. EPA 
9. Carbon Fund