Research conducted by the United States National Academy of Sciences shows that approximately 40-50% of the world’s population live in cities vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise, particularly New York, Miami, Los Angeles (United States), Tokyo (Japan) and Bombay (India).
According to recent research, climate change is melting the immense ice caps of Greenland – the world’s largest island, an autonomous territory of Denmark – at a rapid rate, contributing significantly to sea level rise, threatening coastal towns everywhere.
Using calculations, researchers estimate that the speed at which ice melts in Greenland and flows into the ocean has been six times higher than the ice melt 46 years ago, faster than it had been. predicted scientists.
Professor Eric Rignot, who specializes in Earth System Science at the University of California-Irvine, has confirmed that glaciers melt faster, break into ice caps and drift into the ocean.
Sea level rises every year as glaciers continue to melt faster and snow / ice melts from mountain peaks. Since 1972, the melting ice in Greenland alone has caused sea level to rise by 13.7 mm. The ice cap located on the island above is the main source of water that flows into the ocean each year.
A December 2018 study found that ice caps have melted at an “unprecedented rate” over the past two decades, more than 50% more than in pre-industrial times and 33% in the 20th century. The study found that Greenland’s ice caps contain enough water to raise global sea level by about 7 meters.
