"containing the second largest ice sheet on Earth, with a surface extent of approximately 1.75 million square kilometers and an average thickness of 2.3 kilometers (1.6 miles).
Greenland’s ice sheet is the Northern Hemisphere’s largest remaining relic of the last ice age. The ice sheet is so massive it holds about 7 percent of all freshwater on Earth, enough water to elevate global sea level by 5 meters (16 feet) if it melted completely. Scientists estimate it would take several centuries of global warming to melt all the ice on Greenland.
Although scientists are not forecasting a disastrous sudden loss of Greenland’s ice, they do observe considerable melting around the fringes of the sheet. This melting is only partly offset by the observed increase in the ice sheet’s thickness within the island’s highland interior. A 2006 study revealed that Greenland’s ice mass decreased about 101 billion tons per year from 2003-2005"
NASA
O derretimento do gelo na Gronelândia (nas áreas periféricas) vai deixando marcas na alva paisagem, tais como estes lagos azuis, que vão manchando o manto branco.
Fonte: NASA Earth Observatory
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