The Arctic’s ice sheet is melting at a rapid rate: 11 billion tons in one day

by Elinor Aspegren, USA TODAY

Scientists announced Thursday that July equaled, if not surpassed, the hottest month in recorded history. But that was not the only cause for concern.

Greenland’s ice sheet melted at its most rapid rate so far this summer summer on Thursday, losing 11 billion tons of surface ice to the ocean, according to data from the Polar Portal, a website run by Danish polar research institutions, and the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

That’s equivalent to 4.4 million Olympic swimming pools.

“For those keeping track, this means the #Greenland #icesheet ends July with a net mass loss of 197 Gigatonnes since the 1st of the month,” tweeted Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist with Danish Meteorological Institute – a number equivalent to around 80 million Olympic swimming pools.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/08/02/4-million-olympic-pools-how-much-arctic-melted-yesterday/1899006001/?utm_source=usatoday-Climate%20Point&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=narrative&utm_term=article_body

• Author
• Recent Posts

Guest Blogger

Latest posts by Guest Blogger (see all)

• The power of finance to transform our economy - December 2, 2019
• Repsol is first oil major to pledge zero emissions by 2050 - December 2, 2019
• Coal power becoming ‘uninsurable’ as firms refuse cover - December 2, 2019