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Greenland: Retreating glacier forms Nunataks

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Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth and the Greenland ice sheet the second largest ice body in the world. Global warming is making this reservoir melt and that also much faster than any of the previous times. Its exposed lonely mountains are separating to form islands of their own.

Appearance of the islands is a symptom of an ice sheet retreating. Flooded seacoasts and rising water levels are the legacy of their retreats, as are the ecological changes on the landscapes around the glacier’s edge. If all the ice on Greenland were to melt into the North Atlantic Ocean, global sea levels would rise by about 21.3 feet.

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Scientists say:

All over Greenland and the Arctic, rising temperatures are not simply melting ice; they are changing the very geography of coastlines. Nunataks – ‘lonely mountains’ in Inuit – that were encased in the margins of Greenland’s ice sheet are being freed of their age-old bonds, exposing a new chain of islands, and a new opportunity for Arctic explorers to write their names on the landscape.

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This is an outright example as to how global warming is causing glaciers to melt faster resulting in tidewater glaciers and calving. Knowledge is awareness, now that you know about it Recycle, Conserve energy, enjoy the myriad colors of glacial ice while it lasts.

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