Iceland and Greenland sizzle: What does record heat in Arctic region mean for the world?

Human-caused climate change has led to an unnatural spike in Iceland and Greenland’s temperatures by several degrees. The record-setting May heat wave raises concerns about the long-term implications of melting Arctic ice for weather around the world, reported AP.

According to the report, the Greenland ice sheet melted many times faster than normal during the heat wave in May. Some parts of Iceland saw temperatures more than 10°C (18 °F) above average, and the country set a record for its warmest weather in May when Egilsstadir Airport hit 26.6°C (79.9 F) on May 15.

The findings come as global leaders are focusing more on Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, following US President Donald Trump's comments that he would like to seize the mineral-rich island.

What caused unnatural spike in temperatures?

Burning fossil fuels in huge quantities to generate electricity and fuel transportation lead to the release of pollutants such as carbon dioxide that cause the planet to warm unnaturally fast. The Arctic is one of the fastest-warming places on the planet.

Even in today’s climate, the occurrence of such a strong heat wave in the Arctic region is relatively rare, with just 1 per cent chance of occurring in a year.

Friederike Otto, associate professor of climate science at Imperial College London, told AP that without human-caused climate change, such an event would be “basically impossible”.

Global impacts from melting Arctic

Otto also told AP that the extreme weather event will affect the world.

As the Greenland ice sheet melts, it releases massive amounts of fresh water into the salty oceans. Scientists say this could slow down the “Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation”, an ocean current that circulates water from the Gulf of Mexico across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe and then the Arctic, said AP.

Such a slowdown could disturb global climate and weather patterns.

“The nature of weather in the Northern Hemisphere is directly tied to what’s happening in the Arctic, because that ice floor basically at the bottom of the atmosphere helps determine the weather patterns that we get,” Waleed Abdalati, who heads an environmental sciences institute at the University of Colorado Boulder told AP. 

The Greenland ice sheet and other ice covering the Arctic region can influence where and when wind blows, how much water content the wind has and whether precipitation falls as rain or snow, said AP. 

Usually, most of the melting of the Greenland ice sheet happens in June, July and August. The May heat wave means there will be a longer melting season this year, which can threaten lives.

Melting ice sheets and glaciers can also cause the sea level to rise, threatening to flood coastlines globally and flood low-lying island nations in the Pacific Ocean, said AP.

Indigenous communities in Greenland are increasingly dealing with dangerous travel conditions as melting ice means that access to traditional hunting locations are lost, and sled dogs can no longer travel the same routes. The situation can also destabilise buildings and increase risks of landslides and tsunamis caused by landslides, reported AP.

Greenland rejects US annexation move

Trump recently showed interest in annexing Greenland due to its rich reserves of oil, gas and rare earth minerals. The island’s proximity to the US, Russia and Europe also has a geopolitical appeal.

Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has said Greenland “will never, ever be a piece of property that can be bought by just anyone”, as reported by AP.

The deputy lead scientist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, Twila Moon, told AP it is important that Greenlanders lead decisions about their own territory. “Certainly an important part of this conversation is about climate change and climate impacts,” she said.

Moon told AP the climate impacts Greenland is experiencing, particularly the warming global temperatures, stem from well-identified sources such as highly polluting nations and industries. She said actions such as converting to solar or wind energy and switching to transportation that emits less pollution can create positive climate impacts for people far away.