News spotlight: Ice sheet warming at highest rate in 1,000 years
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Editor’s note: News about conservation and the environment is made every day, but some of it can fly under the radar. In a recurring feature, Conservation News shares a recent news story that you should know about.
One of the coldest regions of the planet is experiencing its highest temperatures in at least a millennium, according to a new study in the journal Nature.
By drilling deep into the Greenland ice sheet, one of the world’s oldest and largest, researchers were able to estimate that temperatures between 2001 and 2011 were about 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degree Fahrenheit) higher than the 20th century average — a concerning milestone as nations work to limit global temperature rise to that very same degree.
While grim, the findings are in line with what’s becoming clearer and clearer — Earth’s frozen regions have rapidly warmed since the industrial revolution, barreling towards a future of slow, but sure, sea level rise, Chelsea Harvey reported for E&E News.
Though she expected higher temperatures in light of global warming, glaciologist and lead author of the study…
