The ice sheet has melted significantly over the last decade, scientists say.
Greenland’s ice sheet is melting so fast that it is forcing water levels to rise, giving alert to a global flood warning, USA Today reported.
The melting ice sheets were observed by scientists studying the phenomenon for a study funded by European Space Agency (ESA) as part of its project “Polar+ Surface Mass Balance Feasibility."
Satellite images detected the shrinking of the ice sheets, which was reported this week.
Greenland's ice sheet, which measures 656,000 square miles, is the largest in the world after Antarctica, and has melted so much in the past decade that global sea levels rose by 1 centimeter, USA Today reported.
Scientists say the trends in how fast it is melting are predicting sea levels can rise nearly a foot higher by the end of the century, USA Today reported.
As of Monday, 3.5 trillion tons of Greenland's ice sheet melted from 2011 to 2020, which would be enough to flood all of New York City in 14,700 feet of water, according to Nature Communications.
Once fully melted, sea levels will rise about 20 feet, according to the National Snow and Ice Date Center.
“Observations show that extreme melt events in Greenland have become more frequent and more intense – as well as more erratic – which is a global problem," Lin Gilbert, co-author of the study, said in a statement.
The melting of Greenland’s ice sheets are related to extreme weather events brought on by climate change and have become more frequent and are now a major cause of ice loss from the country because of the runoff they produce, Sci Tech Daily reported.
