Death toll soars past 1,000 after devastating earthquake rocks Turkey, Syria. Chevron right

Ashburn, VA

46°F
Location Chevron down
Location News Videos
Use Current Location
Recent

Ashburn

Virginia

46°
No results found.
Try searching for a city, zip code or point of interest.
settings
Ashburn, VA Weather
Today WinterCast Local {stormName} Tracker Hourly Daily Radar MinuteCast Monthly Air Quality Health & Activities

Around the Globe

Hurricane Tracker

Severe Weather

Radar & Maps

News

News & Features

Astronomy

Business

Climate

Health

Recreation

Sports

Travel

Video

Podcasts

Winter Center

News & Features AccuWeather Prime Astronomy Business Climate Health Recreation Sports Travel

News / Climate

Temperatures on Greenland haven't been this warm in at least 1,000 years, scientists report

Researchers drilled ice cores to analyze how the climate crisis has impacted the island country over the years. The more they drilled, the further they went back in time.

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN,

Published Jan 18, 2023 2:57 PM EST | Updated Jan 18, 2023 3:09 PM EST

Copied
Live Coverage For all things weather, 24 hours a day.

Researchers discovered that at every point inspected on the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream’s glaciers, they were found to be accelerating.

(CNN) -- As humans fiddle with the planet's thermostat, scientists are piecing together Greenland's history by drilling ice cores to analyze how the climate crisis has impacted the island country over the years. The further down they drilled, the further they went back in time, allowing them to separate which temperature fluctuations were natural and which were human-caused.

After years of research on the Greenland ice sheet -- which CNN visited when the cores were drilled -- scientists reported Wednesday in the journal Nature that temperatures there have been the warmest in at least the last 1,000 years -- the longest amount of time their ice cores could be analyzed to. And they found that between 2001 and 2011, it was on average 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than it was during the 20th century.

The report's authors said human-caused climate change played a significant role in the dramatic rise in temperatures in the critical Arctic region, where melting ice has a considerable global impact.

"Greenland is the largest contributor currently to sea level rise," Maria Hörhold, lead author of the study and a glaciologist with the Alfred Wegener Institute, told CNN. "And if we keep on going with the carbon emissions as we do right now, then by 2100, Greenland will have contributed up to 50 centimeters to sea level rise and this will affect millions of people who live in coastal areas."

Weather stations along the edge of the Greenland ice sheet have detected that its coastal regions are warming, but scientists' understanding of the effects of rising temperatures there had been limited due to the lack of long-term observations.

Icebergs are seen through a window of an airplane carrying NASA scientists as they fly on a mission to track melting ice in eastern Greenland on Aug. 14, 2019. Zombie ice from the massive Greenland ice sheet will eventually raise global sea level by at least 10 inches on its own, according to a study released in August 2022. Zombie or doomed ice is still attached to thicker areas of ice, but it’s no longer getting fed by those larger glaciers. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

Understanding the past, Hörhold said, is important to prepare for future consequences.

"If you want to state something is global warming, you need to know what the natural variation was before humans actually interacted with the atmosphere," she said. "For that, you have to go to the past -- to the pre-industrial era -- when humans have not been emitting [carbon dioxide] into the atmosphere."

During pre-industrial times, there were no weather stations in Greenland that gathered temperature data like today. That's why the scientists relied on paleoclimate data, such as ice cores, to study the region's warming patterns. The last robust ice core analysis in Greenland ended in 1995, and that data didn't detect warming despite climate change already being apparent elsewhere, Hörhold said.

"With this extension to 2011, we can show that, 'Well, there is actually warming,'" she added. "The warming trend has been there since 1800, but we had the strong natural variability that has been hiding this warming."

Temperatures on Greenland haven't been this warm in at least 1,000 years, scientists report. Pictured is the Russell Glacier front, part of the Greenland ice sheet in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, on Aug. 16, 2022. ( LWimages AB/Getty Images/File)

Before humans began belching fossil fuel emissions into the atmosphere, temperatures near 32 degrees Fahrenheit in Greenland were unheard of. But recent research shows that the Arctic region has been warming four times faster than the rest of the planet.

Significant warming in Greenland's ice sheet is nearing a tipping point, scientists say, which could trigger catastrophic melting. Greenland holds enough ice that if it all melted, it could lift global sea levels by roughly 24 feet, according to NASA.

Although the study only covered temperatures through 2011, Greenland has seen extreme events since then. In 2019, an unexpectedly hot spring and a July heat wave caused almost the entire ice sheet's surface to begin melting, shedding roughly 532 billion tons of ice into the sea. Global sea level would rise by 1.5 millimeters as a result, scientists reported afterward.

Then in 2021, rain fell at the summit of Greenland -- roughly two miles above sea level -- for the first time on record. The warm air then fueled an extreme rain event, dumping 7 billion tons of water on the ice sheet, enough to fill the Reflecting Pool at Washington, DC's National Mall nearly 250,000 times.

In this Aug. 16, 2019, photo, NYU student researchers sit on top of a rock overlooking the Helheim glacier in Greenland. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

With these extreme events in Greenland happening more often, Hörhold said the team will continue to monitor the changes.

"Every degree matters," Hörhold said. "At one point, we will go back to Greenland and we will keep on extending those records."

The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

RELATED:

Ocean heat hit another record high in 2022
Up to half of world's glaciers could disappear, new study finds
The past eight years were eight warmest on record for the planet
Hotter, rainier, wetter — the Arctic is dramatically transforming
Greenland ice sheet shows extensive inland thinning
Report a Typo

Weather News

Severe Weather

Deadly wildfires continue to rage in Chile

Feb. 6, 2023
Winter Weather

Why sudden loud booms sometimes occur when it’s very cold outside

Feb. 3, 2023
Weather News

Old photo inspired park ranger to explore hidden history of Yosemite

Feb. 3, 2023
Show more Show less Chevron down

Topics

News & Features

AccuWeather Prime

Astronomy

Business

Climate

Health

Recreation

Sports

Travel

Top Stories

Winter Weather

Mount Washington’s astonishing RealFeel Temp in record territory

20 hours ago

Weather News

Death toll surpasses 1,300 after 7.8 earthquake rocks Turkey, Syria

2 minutes ago

Severe Weather

Severe weather, flooding threats loom for Texas to Ohio this week

2 hours ago

Winter Weather

New weather pattern on deck in California

1 hour ago

Weather Forecasts

Spring to bring more snow chances, AccuWeather experts say

2 days ago

More Stories

Featured Topic

Tips to cope with winter weather

Featured Stories

Weather News

US fighter jets shoot down Chinese spy balloon off East Coast

1 day ago

Weather News

Cold weather testing: Airplanes endure punishing extremes

3 days ago

Live Blog

Ingredients come together for epic winter photo

LATEST ENTRY

Patience leads to epic winter photo

1 day ago

AccuWeather Climate Temperatures on Greenland haven't been this warm in at least 1,000 years, scientists report
Company
Proven Superior Accuracy About AccuWeather Digital Advertising Careers Press Contact Us
Products & Services
For Business For Partners For Advertising AccuWeather APIs Podcast RealFeel® and RealFeel Shade™
Apps & Downloads
iPhone App Android App See all Apps & Downloads
Subscription Services
AccuWeather Premium AccuWeather Professional
More
AccuWeather Ready Business Health Hurricane Leisure and Recreation Severe Weather Space and Astronomy Sports Travel Weather News Winter Center
Company
Proven Superior Accuracy About AccuWeather Digital Advertising Careers Press Contact Us
Products & Services
For Business For Partners For Advertising AccuWeather APIs Podcast RealFeel® and RealFeel Shade™
Apps & Downloads
iPhone App Android App See all Apps & Downloads
Subscription Services
AccuWeather Premium AccuWeather Professional
More
AccuWeather Ready Business Health Hurricane Leisure and Recreation Severe Weather Space and Astronomy Sports Travel Weather News Winter Center
© 2023 AccuWeather, Inc. "AccuWeather" and sun design are registered trademarks of AccuWeather, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | TAG Disclosure | Do Not Sell My Data checkmark Confirmed Not Selling Your Data

We have updated our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

I Understand

Get AccuWeather alerts as they happen with our browser notifications.

Notifications Enabled

Thanks! We’ll keep you informed.

FEEDBACK