Heatwave causes massive melt of Greenland’s ice sheet

Copenhagen: Greenland’s ice sheet has experienced a "massive melting event" during a heatwave that has seen temperatures more than 10 degrees above seasonal norms, according to Danish researchers.

Since Wednesday the ice sheet covering the vast Arctic territory, has melted by around eight billion tonnes a day, twice its normal average rate during summer, reported the Polar Portal website, which is run by Danish researchers.

The Danish Meteorological Institute reported temperatures of more than 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), more than twice the normal average summer temperature, in northern Greenland.

And Nerlerit Inaat airport in the northeast of the territory recorded 23.4 degrees on Thursday, the highest recorded there since records began. With the heatwave affecting most of Greenland that day, the Polar Portal website reported a "massive melting event" involving enough water "to cover Florida with two inches of water" (five centimetres).

The largest melt of the Greenland ice sheet still dates back to the summer of 2019. But the area where the melting took place this time is larger than two years ago, the website added.