❄️ New evidence of melting ice in Greenland leads to fears of a significant rise in sea levels
The loss of ice mass from Greenland's ice cap is occurring further inland than previously thought and this will likely worsen sea level rise, according to a study published this Wednesday (9) in the journal Nature (🇬🇧).
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Until now, scientists have focused mainly on the melting of the coastal strips of the ice cap, but this time they researched what is happening in the interior of the island with satellite data, GPS stations on the ground and digital models.
The discovery they made is alarming: the gigantic block of ice, also called “inlandsis”, which covers the territory of Greenland, is losing thickness at a distance of 200 to 300 km from the coast.
Scientists estimate that sea levels could rise by between 13,5 and 15,5 millimeters by the end of the century.
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The Greenland ice cap is currently the main driver of rising sea levels, according to NASA, as the Arctic region is warming faster than the rest of the world.
“NEGIS could lose six times more ice than estimated by existing climate models,” the report warned.
One of the reasons for the cap to lose thickness inside is the entry of warm ocean currents.
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“The new model truly accounts for what is happening inside the land, the previous [models] do not […] We are facing a massive change, a completely different sea level projection”, explained the main author of the study, Shafaqat Abbas Khan, told AFP.
According to him, it is practically impossible to reverse the loss of ice mass from the Greenland ice cap, but it is possible to contain it with appropriate policies against climate changes.
🌱 Shell Brasil invests R$30 million to produce ethanol from agave
A Shell Brazil closed a partnership with State University of Campinas (Unicamp) for a research and development project that wants to use agave – a plant typical of semi-arid regions, the raw material for tequila – for the production of ethanol.
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The company will invest R$30 million and, if successful, the venture has the potential to transform the Brazilian hinterland into a new frontier for biofuel production, without competing with areas that are currently used for growing food.
☀️ Heat waves could kill 90 Europeans per year by 2100
If nothing is done to prevent this, 90 Europeans could die each year due to heat waves by the end of the century, the European Environment Agency (EEA) warned this Wednesday (9).
“Without adaptation measures, under a scenario of global warming of 3°C in 2100, 90 Europeans could die from heat waves every year,” said the EEA.
With warming of 1,5°C, the goal of the Paris agreement, this number drops to 30 deaths per year, indicates the report, based on a study published in 2020.
Between 1980 and 2020, around 129 Europeans died from heat, with a strong acceleration in the recent period.
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The combination of more frequent heat waves, an aging population and increased urbanization is making Europeans more vulnerable to high temperatures, especially in the south of the continent, according to the European Union agency.
🌳 Commitments to forests are far from what is necessary to achieve the Paris Agreement
A new report from the United Nations (UN) concludes that the world is not on track to meet forest targets to end and reverse deforestation by 2030. The objective is fundamental to the 1,5°C target of the Climate Change Agreement. Paris.
For the 2030 targets to remain within reach, a milestone of one gigaton of emissions reductions from forests must be achieved by 2025, and annually thereafter. The study involved the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and partners.
The report “Doing good in the Glasgow Climate Pact” (🇬🇧) concludes that current public and private commitments to invest in emissions reductions are 24% of the milestone target. Only about half of these commitments have been realized through signed emissions reduction agreements and none of the funding for these commitments has yet been disbursed.
(To AFP)
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