De Universiteit van Vlaanderen Podcast · Universiteit van Vlaanderen

Waarom mag het ijs op Groenland echt nooit smelten?

·16 min·1 clip

If Greenland's ice melts, global sea levels could rise by 7.4 meters.

The episode begins by highlighting Greenland's relevance due to recent news and warming trends. Host introduces glaciologist Chloé Pees from VUB, who situates Greenland geographically between the US and Europe near the North Pole. Pees distinguishes Greenland from Antarctica, noting Antarctica is a continent covered in ice while the North Pole includes sea ice. She explains the critical difference between land ice and sea ice, where land ice melting contributes to sea level rise but sea ice melting does not. Pees quantifies Greenland's size as 2 million square kilometers, 72 times Belgium, and discusses how Mercator projection maps exaggerate its appearance. She reveals her research involves computer modeling of ice-atmosphere interactions rather than field expeditions. The conversation delves into ice cores as archives of past atmospheres, with annual layers like tree rings. Pees confirms ice is melting faster, affecting local populations who rely on sea ice for hunting and fishing. She provides statistics on sea ice decline, such as 12% less per decade in summer. When asked about timelines, Pees states Greenland's ice could be gone in a thousand years in pessimistic scenarios, with sea level rises of 43-84 cm by 2100. The episode emphasizes the 7.4-meter global sea level rise if Greenland's ice melts entirely, compared to 58 meters from Antarctica. Pees describes the vicious circle where melting ice reduces reflectivity, leading to more warming and further melting. She notes one-fourth of the world's population lives near coasts, making them vulnerable to sea level rise. The discussion turns to solutions, with Pees advocating for reducing fossil fuel emissions to slow warming, though ice regrowth would take hundreds of thousands of years. She concludes that while melting is not immediate, human actions determine its extent, and technology is not a quick fix.

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