Well, it’s finally happening. Temperatures in Greenland have risen so high thanks to “blocking” events that trap warm air in the higher latitudes that rain is falling for the first time in recorded history. Scientists on the ground are completely unprepared to measure the rainfall because they literally don’t have the equipment to do so.
Per The Guardian:
Rain has fallen on the summit of Greenland’s huge ice cap for the first time on record. Temperatures are normally well below freezing on the 3,216-metre (10,551ft) peak, and the precipitation is a stark sign of the climate crisis.
Scientists at the US National Science Foundation’s summit station saw rain falling throughout 14 August but had no gauges to measure the fall because the precipitation was so unexpected. Across Greenland, an estimated 7bn tonnes of water was released from the clouds.
The rain fell during an exceptionally hot three days in Greenland when temperatures were 18C higher than average in places. As a result, melting was seen in most of Greenland, across an area about four times the size of the UK.
Eighteen degrees Celsius higher than average. I believe that’s 32.2 degrees Fahrenheit if my math holds true. Scientists are now saying the Greenland ice sheet is on the brink of a major tipping point.
The new analysis detected the warning signals of a tipping point in a 140-year record of ice-sheet height and melting rates in the Jakobshavn basin, one of the five biggest basins in Greenland and the fastest-melting. The prime suspect for a surge in melting is a vicious circle in which melting reduces the height of the ice sheet, exposing it to the warmer air found at lower altitudes, which causes further melting.
Unicef has also just released a new report that states at least half of the 2.2 billion children in the world are facing “extreme risks” of climate impacts.
Almost half the world’s 2.2 billion children are already at “extremely high risk” from the impacts of the climate crisis and pollution, according to a report from Unicef. The UN agency’s head called the situation “unimaginably dire”.
Nearly every child around the world was at risk from at least one of these impacts today, including heatwaves, floods, cyclones, disease, drought, and air pollution, the report said. But 1 billion children live in 33 countries facing three or four impacts simultaneously. The countries include India, Nigeria and the Philippines, and much of sub-Saharan Africa.
The picture looks dire for human civilization on Planet Earth and still nothing substantial has been done about it. We’re still addicted to fossil fuels, CO2 output has increased over the years, and all scientists can do is keep issuing warnings that are largely ignored by our governments.
We are truly boned.
