Icon: enlarge
This satellite image shows the broken ice masses on the Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glacier
Photo: ESA / AFP
A huge piece of ice has broken off from the largest remaining glacier in the Arctic on the northeast coast of Greenland.
According to Danish researchers, the ice that has broken off the Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glacier measures 113 square kilometers - larger than Paris.
Satellite images published by the Geological Research Institute for Denmark and Greenland (Geus) show huge ice floes floating in the sea.
It is not uncommon for large pieces of ice to break off from glaciers that end in the sea.
But the special thing is the size of the new chunk.
According to the researchers, the ice loss is a direct result of the global climate crisis: According to Geus, the Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glacier, also known as 79N, has lost 160 square kilometers of ice since 1999 - an ice surface twice the size of Manhattan.
This process has accelerated over the past two years.
The reason was two particularly warm summers.
Icon: enlarge Photo: ESA / dpa
According to the information, the average temperature in the region has increased by three degrees since 1980 - the researchers also expect record temperatures for 2020.
And it is not only in the Arctic that it is getting warmer.
The glaciers are also melting in the Antarctic.
The Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers, which together already contribute around five percent to global sea-level rise, are particularly affected.
Fragile buffer
The two glaciers in West Antarctica prevent huge amounts of ice from flowing into the sea.
If the glaciers can no longer guarantee this one day, the sea level could rise by more than a meter in the long term - the water would flood numerous coastal cities.
The Thwaites Glacier is therefore also called "Doomsday Glacier", "Doomsday Glacier".
Experts observe it closely - with satellites from space, among other things.
According to a current analysis in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a natural buffer system is becoming increasingly unstable.
As a result, significantly more ice masses could break off into the sea in the coming years.
Actually, ice shelf areas on the edge of the glacier hold back the ice masses, but these are becoming increasingly unstable.
According to the researchers, the reason for this is the warming of the atmosphere and the ocean around the glacier.
"This leads to increased melting on the surface and underside, the ice shelf becomes thinner and more crevices and cracks appear," said Jan Wuite from the Innsbruck research company Enveo IT, who was involved in the study.
Accordingly, the ice edge of the glacier has been fraying since 1999, but the process has accelerated since 2016.
Previous studies had shown that the ice shelf is becoming increasingly unstable.
If this continues, an irreversible tipping point could be reached.
Analyzes show that the loss of mass of the ice sheets already corresponds to the highest predictions for sea level rise.
Icon: The mirror
koe / AFP