The ice wrapped around the Greenland landmass turns out to be melting faster than what many have previously believed.
Based on a current research undertaken by scientists, it has been discovered that the place has lost roughly 2,700 gigatons of ice from the years 2003 to 2013. Last year, it was believed that it has only lost 2,500 gigatons.
Gravity Hides the Real Figures
The gap was due to the gravitational signals that are originating from the mantle inside the Earth's surface. This activates the active volcanoes located in Iceland and caused the 7.6 percent difference on the real statistical loss.
According to the recent study that was published by the Science Advances in its journal, Greenland loses 40 trillion pounds of ice more every year. This is a huge number and is worthy to be called as an "alarming statistic".
This means that the real figure of the amount of lost ice from the years 2003 to 2013 in Greenland is 590 trillion pounds and not 550 million pounds. That results to a 7.6 percent discrepancy.
Bevis says, "If you look at the last 15 years since we've been having these measurements, it's clearly getting worse, the ice loss. It is pretty scary."
The Future of Humanity Depends on the Rate of Melting
If the rate of melting will stay this way for the next couple of decades, then there would be no need to worry. However, the chance of its rate not changing is slim, leading one to conclude that it would increase in the years to come. If this happens, then it would yield in devastating effects.
Thanks to the recent scientific and technological breakthroughs, getting to know more about the real happenings in the iced region will become easier and more accurate. Hopefully, things turn out good. Because if not, then it humanity's future would surely be a dark one.
