Greenland: Land of ice on fire
Greenland, home to the world's largest permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica, is being swept by wildfires. Scientists say global warming and increased plant cover are likely factors.
Greenland, the vast Arctic island with the biggest permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica, is burning.
Since late July, wildfires have raged across an ever-larger area of the landmass - and with greater intensity - than ever before observed.
Experts say it is too early to draw firm conclusions linking the fire to climate change because no long-term data is available to put the blaze in context. However, unusually warm and dry conditions this year could have been a factor.
"It's unprecedented in the short 18-year observational record," Jason Box, a climate scientist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, told DW. "We also know that temperatures in Greenland are probably higher [than they have been over] the last 800 years."Although the origin of the blaze is unclear - with lightening and a stray cigarette as possible suspects - what is clear is how it has been spreading across remote areas of grassland and low shrub.
Greenland's getting greener
Greenland conjures images of white, frozen expanses. But Box says global warming means it's getting greener all the time. "There's a shorter snow-cover season, and that allows the plant life to expand," he explained.
The Arctic is heating up around twice as fast as the global average. At the same time, rainfall around the world is also increasing - and that trend as well is more present in the Artic.
"More rain is a widespread symptom of climate change," Box said. "You get more precipitation - and where you get the biggest increase is in the Arctic."
For Greenland, warmer, wetter conditions mean more vegetation - which, seemingly paradoxically, could be a factor for the fire.
KUIFANYA SIMU YAKO IWE NA UWEZO KUPITA IPHONEE X NA KUTUMIA MB ZA BURE BONYEZA APA CHINI During its two year run, the project will award approximately 100 major reporting grants and provide mentoring to support the best ideas for stories on development issues. Journalists who produce the best stories published or broadcasted in media that reach African audiences, will win a major international reporting trip. During its two year run, the project will award approximately 100 major reporting grants and provide mentoring to support the best ideas for stories on development issues. Journalists who produce the best stories published or broadcasted in media that reach African audiences, will win a major international reporting trip.
DOWLOAD VIDEO ZA WAKUBWA NA KUJINGA GROUP ZA WHATTSSPP BONYEZA APO CHINI
0 comments: